Breakdown
by RandomObserver42
Summary: Time itself is bleeding. The Hero of Time caused three parallel realities to be created. No one knows for certain which is the true history. In order to stop the breakdown of reality the Links and Zeldas of each era must work together to uncover the mystery of the Hero of Time and the origin of all the Heroes. Rated T for safety.
1. Twilight

**Hello! I don't own Legend of Zelda or anything.**

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"Well. That was... different."

"Oh, grow up Link. It was just a time-traveling building guarded by puzzle-loving statues in which you gained the ability to possess other statues and squashed a giant spider. No big deal. I'm just glad we got that mirror shard," my shadow responded.

"Well, it might not seem that impressive to you, Midna," I said, "but to me that was really weird."

"Weirder than that stuff Lanayru showed you?"

I made a face. "Fair point. Please don't bring that up again, though. Soooooo creepy."

Midna and I both shuddered. I must say, it's very strange to see your own shadow shudder.

By now, I had come out of the Sacred Grove into the more familiar area of Faron Woods. Quickly, I used some horse grass to call Epona and soon we were all galloping across Hyrule Field.

Both Midna and I were quiet during the ride. I relaxed, simply enjoying the ride. Knowing Midna, she was probably busy concocting some sort of plan or plot.

As I leisurely approached the bridge south of Castle Town, Midna suddenly popped out of my shadow and yelled, "LINK! Look out!"

I jerked hard on Epona's reigns, causing her to rear and almost throw me off. As I calmed her down, I noticed the sound of a waterfall. Waterfall? The nearest is at Lake Hylia. I'm miles away!

I looked up and gasped. There was a purple portal in the sky, with water pouring out of it. "Midna!" I yelled over the sound of the water. "Is this Twili magic?"

"No! I've never seen anything like THAT!" Suddenly her eyes widened even further.

I whipped around and saw a kargaroc emerge from the deluging portal. But this wasn't some monster I could easily take down with a couple of arrows. This bird's body was as big as my house! It was extremely colorful, with an intimidating mask on its face. All I could do was gape at the monster. Abruptly, it noticed us and launched into a dive attack.

Snapping out of it, I managed to get Epona into a gallop and dodged the attack. I grabbed my bow and aimed it at the enormous bird. The arrow shot the kargaroc in what should have been its heart. However, the monster didn't even seem to know it had been hit. As I aimed again, this time for a head shot, I noticed a green speck falling through the portal. With a "WAAAAAHHHHHHH!" it landed in the still-rising water.

I looked away to find the giant bird right on top of me. Epona raced away from it in terror. I bent over her neck, urging her to increase her speed. I looked over my shoulder. The beast was falling behind. I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding. I slowed her to a trembling trot. The huge bird seemed to have lost interest in us. I looked again and noticed it was going for the green speck which I now realized was a little boy around Collin's age. I couldn't just let the monster get him! I convinced Epona to get me most of the way back before she balked. I jumped out of her saddle and raced towards the kid. "Kid! Run away!" I screamed.

The kid didn't even seem to notice me. He faced the bird down as it came at him. He had guts, I had to give him that. That, or he was just scared witless. I raced the monster to get to the kid first. I was losing. Just as I was losing hope, the kid yelled, "You want a piece of me?! Come and get it, bird brain!" Suddenly he was holding a gargantuan hammer, the head of which was at least the same size as the kid himself. As the bird bore down on him, the kid nimbly dodged the attack and smashed the bird's face in with the massive hammer. The bird flew away as quickly as it could, squawking in a surprisingly high tone.

I ran up to the kid. "A...are... Are you... ok...?" I panted.

The kid smiled up at me. "Yep. Never better."

I stared at the kid in surprise.

"You know, my grandma always said that if I left my mouth open too long it would get stuck that way."

"Huh?!" I said. I then noticed that I had been standing there with my jaw dropped. I rapidly closed it.

"That's better," said the kid. "Now, where am I? What happened to the Great Sea?"

I looked at the kid like he had a screw loose. "What are you talking about? There aren't any seas or oceans here. Everyone knows Hyrule is completely landlocked."

The kid's jaw dropped. _Huh, that's how I must have looked a second ago..._ I thought to myself.

"You know, my friend Rusl always said that if I left my mouth open too long, a bird would make a nest in it."

That pulled the kid out of his shock. "Hyrule... This isn't Hyrule! That's underneath the ocean!"

I looked at him quizzically. "You sure you're alright, kid?" I gestured around. "As you can see, Hyrule is very much not under an ocean."

"But I was just storming the Forbidden Fortress!" the kid replied. "I was beating up the Helmaroc King! Then this purple thingy opened and we both got sucked inside, along with a bunch of seawater."

"That must have been the portal we saw," Midna replied.

I looked up at the portal. Well, where it had been. At some point it had disappeared, leaving behind a flooded and destroyed bridge.

The kid stared at Midna. "Wh-What... What's wrong with your shadow?" he asked nervously.

"Hey! Don't talk about me like I'm not here!" sassed Midna.

"S-Sorry Miss Guy's Shadow!"

"Hey, my name's not guy, it's Link. This is Midna. She's from the Twilight Realm, so she hides in my shadow a lot of the time." I interjected. "By the way, Midna, why are you showing yourself?"

Midna looked thoughtful. "I... don't really know. I just get a good feeling off him, you know?"

"A good feeling? You? About other people?" I asked skeptically.

Midna rounded on me. "Just... Don't question it, okay?!"

"T-Twilight realm?" The kid asked. His expression abruptly went from puzzled to indignant. "Hey! Did you say your name was Link?"

"Yeah I did. What's yours?"

"Your name can't be Link!"

I crossed my arms. "And why not?"

The kid put his hands on his hips. "Cause that's MY name!"


	2. Wind

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**If I owned LoZ, would I be writing FanFic about it?**

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"Cause that's MY name!" I yelled at this so-called 'Link'. How dare this guy steal my name? I'm the only Link in all of the Great Sea!

"Geez calm down, kiddo," said the weird shadow-lady-thing. "More than one person can have a name, you know."

I pouted. "Well, he can't have mine."

Then 'Link' spoke up. "Well, that's easy to fix. We'll both have to have nicknames."

"Nicknames?" I said as I lifted my eyebrow. Not a bad idea, even coming from a name thief like 'Link'.

"Yeah," the shadow-lady added. She pointed at me, saying, "How about... 'Kiddo' for you and..." her pointing finger moved to 'Link', "'Servant' for you?"

"No!" I yelled as 'Link' scoffed, "Really, Midna, couldn't you come up with anything better? For instance, I could start calling you 'Imp'."

"Do you **want** to die?"

"I suppose not."

"Then never call me that again. **Ever.**"

"Fine. Hey here's an idea," 'Link' said to me. "Do you have some sort of identifying ability or some special interest or are constantly battling something?"

"Yeah..." My voice trailed off as I thought. I pulled out the Wind Waker.

"What's that?" asked the shadow-lady. I think 'Link' said her name was Midne.

I held it up. "This is the Wind Waker. It can change the direction of the wind and create cyclones and stuff."

"Neat," said 'Link'. "Let's call you Wind then."

"Wind, huh?" To be honest, I kind of liked it. Not that I'd tell that to the name thief and the shadow-lady.

'Link' continued. "Personally, I can turn into a wolf. But since I've discovered, thanks to **someone**," he rolled his eyes at Midne, "that I don't particularly like being called 'wolfey boy', I'll pick something else."

"Well, you fight monsters all the time. So you should be 'monster boy'," giggled Midne.

"Thanks so much for your extraordinarily helpful input."

An idea struck me. "Well..." I began.

'Link' quirked his eyebrow. "Well what?"

I looked down at my shoes. "Well, is there something else you're fighting against or fighting for? I'm always trying to save my sister. She was kidnapped recently... That's kinda how I wound up here."

"Wow, kid." I looked up into the name thief's face. He actually looked sympathetic. "That's rough."

"Yeah." I replied.

'Link' seemed to sense I didn't want to talk about it anymore and changed the subject. "So, something I'm fighting for or against? Hmm..." He paused in thought. "Well... I'm fighting against the Twilight Invasion... for both Hyrule..." he looked at Midne, "and the Twilight Realm. I think I'll go by Twilight. Twi for short."

'Link', or Twi I suppose, was still looking at Midne. Slowly she looked up at him. "Thanks, Link," she said softly.

"No problem," he said as he smiled at her. They kept looking at each other until it felt weird.

I tried to clear my throat. It came out sounding like a gargling bokoblin. Still, it did the trick. Twi and Midne jumped and acted all awkward.

"Well, what now, Twi? Midne?" I asked.

The shadow-lady exploded. "**MIDNE**?! How dare you mess up my name! It's **MIDNA**!"

"Oops! Sorry Midni!"

"**MIDNA**! With an emphasis on the **NA**!"

While I tried to get out of the hole I was digging myself into, Twi just rolled around laughing his head off.

"Um... Excuse me..."

"Who said that?" I demanded.

Twi was suddenly on his feet with his hand on the hilt of his sword. Something seems strange about his weapon to me, but what's stranger was the guy standing in front of us. He was wearing green, just like me and Twi. By the way, why is Twi wearing clothes that look like mine? Maybe it's his birthday, although he's too old to be coming of age. Anyway, this guy is wearing the same but he's totally drenched.

"Um... Y-You guys w-wouldn't h-happen to h-have a t-towel, would y-you?" the new guy shivered.

"Not really," said Twi. "But we can go somewhere that does. I'll take you guys to my house. It's a ways away, but I can guarantee towels, a warm fire, and good food."

"Th-thanks," the new guy said as his teeth chattered.

Twi smiled. "What's your name, kid?"

The guy smiled and said those fateful words: "My name is Link."

Twi just stopped and stared while Midna yelled, "What?! Another one?!"

"Oh come on! Not another name thief!" I whined. And I had just started getting used to one other Link.


	3. World

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**Also if you haven't played TP, WW, or LttP ***PLOT SPOILERS*****

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Lately, I've seen some weird things. But this one definitely takes the cake.

Two guys. With my clothes. With my name. _Whaaaaaaat?_

The older one was cooking some sort of stew over the fire. I gotta say, his house is nice, but, again, weird. I mean, who lives inside a tree? Overall, Twi (as he said to call him) seems pretty cool. I'm not sure what to think about the other one. Wind is just a year or two younger than me, but he wouldn't stop going on about some sea and how he's the real Link.

Which brought me back to my present conundrum. _What the heck is going on?!_

"Food's done!" announced Twi. "My world famous homemade Pumpkin Soup."

"Smells great," I replied.

Twi smiled at me as he put the soup into three bowls. "Thanks."

"Nobody's soup is as good as my grandma's," stated Wind. Still, his stomach growled loudly.

Each of us took a bowl and sat at the small table nearby. As I began to eat, Twi said, "So... You're another Link, huh?"

I quickly swallowed the mouthful I had just eaten. "I... guess so. Do you two know what's going on?"

Twi sighed. "I was hoping you knew. I was just crossing Hyrule Field today when a huge amount of water and a giant bird fell out of this portal in the sky, followed quickly by this guy," He indicated Wind with a tilt of his head. "Then you showed up."

"Hmm..." To me, Twi's account seemed to be fairly similar to my own. "Before I tell you guys what happened from my perspective, why don't you share yours, Wind?"

"Fine... I was storming the Forbidden Fortress, which is in the Great Sea which covers Hyrule, and I was beating up the Helmaroc King, which Twi calls the 'giant bird', when this purple thing opened and sucked me in along with the bird and a bunch of water. I met Twi and then I met you. What about you, 'Link'?"

_We're making progress. There's definitely a pattern here. ...Hey why do I feel like Wind put quotes around my name?_ "Okay, let me explain a few things. I live in a Hyrule which is being invaded by the king of the Dark World."

"What's the Dark World?" interrupted Wind.

Twi speculated, "Maybe it's another name for the Twilight Realm."

Just then, a creature popped out of his shadow. I'd thought I'd seen something there when I first arrived, but had discounted it as a trick of the light. I stared at the shadow thing as it announced, "It's definitely **NOT** the Twilight Realm. The Twilight Realm is not dark in any sense. It's a serene place." Noticing my stare, she ('cause the thing was definitely a girl) sighed and said, "Hi, I'm Midna, I'm from the Twilight Realm, I hang out in Link - er, Twi's shadow. Deal with it."

Pulling out of my surprise, I replied, "Hi. Nice to meet you, Midna."

"Huh. At least one of you has some manners," she huffed. "Anyways, back to this Dark World."

"Oh yeah. It used to be called the Golden Realm, as that's where the Golden Power was hidden. However, this thief got there and used the Power to turn the world Dark. He's now trying to invade the Light World where I live."

Twi looked at me quizzically. "That sounds suspiciously like the Sacred Realm."

"The what?"

"According to legend, that's where the Triforce is hidden. Also, the Hero of Time was rumored to have been there for seven years."

Wind piped up, "I haven't really heard that part about the Triforce being there, but that part about the Hero of Time is known in the Great Sea. Oh! And the hero sealed Ganondorf there!"

There was silence for a split second. Then Twi was demanding how Wind knew about Ganondorf and how he's not sealed away he's in Hyrule Castle and I was demanding how Wind knew the thief's name and how Twi knew and WHAT THE HECK IS HE DOING IN THE CASTLE?!

"**SHUT UP!"** Screamed Midna. There was immediate silence. "Okay, one of you at a time is going to say what you think is happening. Newcomer. Go."

"O-Okay... Well, in my life Ganondorf is trying to invade the Light World of Hyrule from the Dark World, your Sacred Realm. He's being helped by this dark wizard named Agahnim. I've been trying to stop them by going in between each world and rescuing the descendants of the seven sages, including Princess Zelda. Anyway, I was in the Light World when the light turned orange and these black squares started floating up from the ground. My hand glowed, and I began to hurt really badly. It felt like my bones were shifting. However, I was able to transition to the Dark World, where I stopped hurting. Then a purple portal opened and dumped me in an ocean. Another opened a second later and I found myself with you guys."

Twi and Wind were staring at me with huge eyes.

Wind found his voice first. "You were in the Great Sea?" He turned to Twi. "Ha! Told you it was real!"

Midna quickly brushed Wind's excitement aside. "Never mind that, what is the Twilight doing in this other Hyrule?"

"Huh? Twilight?" I inquired.

Midna sighed. "Twi, you better go next."

"Okay. In my life, Hyrule was invaded by a phenomena known as the Twilight which turned everyone except for me and the princess, Zelda, into spirits. Zelda remained in Hylian form while I shape-shifted into a wolf. I was captured by Twilight beasts, met Midna, and found out another person from the Twilight Realm, Zant, was behind the invasion. Recently, Midna and I discovered that Zant is being controlled by Ganondorf. Somehow, Ganondorf broke out of the Sacred Realm several years ago, but was captured and executed. But he survived the execution. The only action the sages could take to contain him was to transport him to the Twilight Realm, where he met Zant. Anywho, before you two came along, Midna and I were trying to find a means of going to the Twilight Realm to face Zant and then Ganondorf." He turned to me, "Ganondorf is currently inside an impenetrable barrier around Hyrule Castle, to answer your overly-loud question. I don't know what he's doing though."

"Okay..." I trailed off. Wind just looked kind of stunned.

Midna looked at the shell-shocked Wind. "You're up, kiddo."

"Hey! I told you not to call me that!" He sighed in exasperation. "Fine. I live on an island in the Great Sea. The Helmaroc King was kidnapping this pirate who I saved. That stupid bird then kidnapped my sister, Aryll. I got the pirate, Tetra, to help me launch a rescue mission. It... umm... didn't go as planned. I ended up in the middle of the ocean and was rescued by this weird talking boat. I went around and collected stuff and discovered that Hyrule had been flooded a long time ago. But it was preserved through some really powerful magic. And the talking boat was secretly Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule, the last king of Hyrule. I got the Master Sword and was going after Ganondorf - Oh yeah! I found out Ganondorf was behind the kidnappings. Apparently he broke out of the Sacred Realm and the Goddesses flooded Hyrule to stop him. Anyways, that's when I wound up with Twi."

"Okay. Well, now that we've figured out what's going on, what are we going to do about it?" asked Midna.

All of us stared at her.

Wind was again the first to speak. "Wh-Whadda ya mean, we know what's going on?"

"Yeah," agreed Twi, "I'm still confused."

"Same here," I confirmed.

Midna just stared at us with her jaw dropped.

"You know, my uncle always said that if I left my mouth open too long, a bug would fly in," I said.

Midna abruptly shut her mouth. "Seriously?! You guys are such idiots. Do I really have to explain?"

All of us looked at each other, then nodded.

"Argh!" Midna looked ready to explode. "**Obviously** we're dealing with three different dimensions here. Five if you count the Twilight and Sacred Realms. One is an ocean-covered Hyrule. One is a Twilight-covered Hyrule." She smiled smugly. "Well, it used to be. One is a soon-to-be darkness-covered Hyrule. No offense, new guy."

"None taken."

"Cool. Anyways, something's wrong and these dimensions are suddenly interacting with each other. Portals are forming and things like the Twilight, giant birds, and Links are falling through them. Any questions?" She looked at our astonished and somewhat bewildered faces. "Of course not. Did you guys get **any** of that?"

"Uhh..." said Wind.

"Mostly..." I replied.

"Yeah sure," said Twi.

Everyone looked at him.

"What?" he asked. "It makes sense to me."

"Good enough," Midna said. She looked at me. "You still need a nickname though. I hereby dub thee..." She thought for a second. "Other Kiddo!"

Twi sighed. "Midna, your game is just really off today."

"Let's go back to how me and Twi figured ours out," said Wind.

I was a bit surprised that he was being so helpful. "Okay, how did you do that?"

"Any special ability or interest? Or something you fight either for or against?" Twi questioned.

"Hmm," I hummed as I thought. "Umm... I guess I could be Light?"

"Ehh," retorted Midna, "Too close to Twi. Short for Twilight."

"Okay. Ah..." I was stumped.

"Well, you can't be Dark. First off, it makes you sound evil. Second, there's a rumour about the Hero of Time encountering a dark version of himself," added Wind.

"Wow," I said, surprised. "You sure know a lot about the hero."

"Not that much. Most of the legend was lost in the flood. I only know what I found lying around in Hyrule Castle."

Twi unexpectedly cut in. "I can confirm the existence of a dark version of the hero." When he saw our shocked expressions, he elaborated, "I haven't encountered him personally, but I saw him in this vision a spirit shared with me. Anyway," he cut off, "We're supposed to be giving you a nickname."

"Right," I replied. "Well... The only thing I can think of is World. Since I travel between the worlds and I am not being called 'Teleport'."

"Kinda weird," stated Midna. She grinned and added, "I like weird. It suits you, kiddo."

"Thanks." _Although I'm not sure if that's a compliment or not..._

"Okay then. World it is. Now why don't we all go to bed? It's getting late," yawned Twi.

We all agreed and started to work towards that end. Suddenly, there were three knocks on the door. All of us tensed, while Midna disappeared into Twi's shadow.

"I'll get it," whispered Twi. He grabbed his sword, which I suddenly realized was the Master Sword. It was the same as mine, down to the last detail. Twi moved silently towards the door, then jerked it open and braced for an attack.

None was forthcoming. Instead, three cloaked figures stood outside the door.

"May we come in?" the tallest of the strangers asked.

"Umm... Sure..." Twi replied, a bit suspiciously.

The three filed in.

"Who are you?" I demanded.

All three of us gasped as the strangers took down their hoods.

Simultaneously, they responded, "We are Zelda."

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**Alright! Got some plot stuff down!**

**More actual plot development coming soon. Hang in there, people!**


	4. Princesses and Deities

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"We are Zelda."

I stared at the trio, dumbfounded. I was looking at the tallest, recalling the last time I'd seen her. When she'd vanished after healing Midna. I realized I was staring at the princess - the **PRINCESS** - of Hyrule, plus two **other** princesses of **other** Hyrules, and quickly fell to one knee. "Princess...es."

"Zelda, what are you doing here? I thought you were in the Dark World," questioned World.

The second tallest Zelda giggled. "Well... I kind of still am."

"What's that supposed to mean? You're right there."

My Zelda spoke up. "We have been called to aid you all in this time of crisis. We currently exist outside of time. Thus we are here, even if from your perspective it is impossible."

I noticed that Wind was hanging back, trying to study the shortest Zelda without being obvious about it.

"Um... Excuse me," he addressed her, "Have we met before? In my dimension or life or whatever, I don't know a princess. And these guys definitely recognized the other two of you."

"Link! How could you not recognize me?!" yelled the princess as she leaned forwards with her hands on her hips. I must say, she didn't sound or look much like a princess to me at that moment. "It's me! Tetra!"

Wind couldn't hold back a wide-eyed, "WHAAAAAA?!"

I looked at them quizzically. "That pirate you were telling us about is your Princess Zelda?"

"H-Hey! Don't look at me! I just found this out too!" Wind looked like he'd legitimately had his mind blown by this revelation, so I backed off.

"So, why were Your Highnesses called out of time? And by whom?" I asked.

They glanced at each other, then chorused, "By the Goddesses."

_Woah. This must be a big problem if the Three are openly involving themselves._ Wind looked as worried as I felt.

"What goddesses?" World innocently asked.

All of us except his world's Zelda stared at him.

"You'll have to excuse Link," she explained. "In our world, nearly all knowledge of the Three has been lost. I only found out when I was called by Farore."

Turning to World, she continued, "Hyrule was created by three golden goddesses."

Tetra-Zelda cut in, "Din, Goddess of Power, created the earth."

My Zelda said, "Nayru, Goddess of Wisdom, created water, law, and time."

"And Farore, Goddess of Courage, created life." World's Zelda picked up the narrative again. "When the Three were finished, they left this world. At the point of their departure, the Triforce was left behind. This ultimate power, known in our world as the Golden Power, would grant the wish of the one who touched it. Got it so far, Link?"

"Yeah. This is really interesting," replied World with a bright smile.

"Great," she responded, also smiling. "Each of us was called by one of the Goddesses to speak for them concerning this crisis."

"Hey. What crisis?" Wind asked.

All of the Zeldas looked down. When they looked up again, their eyes glowed gold and each was surrounded by a colored halo. My Zelda was surrounded by blue while World's was haloed in green and Wind's was outlined in red.

"Time is wounded," my Zelda said. But it wasn't her usual voice. It echoed with ancient power and majesty.

"Yeah," I said. "Midna figured that out for us. So how does time get wounded?"

Zelda - or maybe Nayru - shook her head. "You misunderstand. While time is indeed breaking down, I was speaking of the cause. The dimensional rifts and collisions of realities are merely the symptoms. No, when I said time I meant Time. The Hero of Time whose actions created each of your worlds."

"Woah," Wind and I breathed together.

"Well, I'm going to need some help again. Hero of Time?" World turned to Wind and I. "The first I heard of this guy was when you two brought him up a while ago. Who's he?"

"Allow me to answer that," said World's Zelda. Her voice resonated with power like my Zelda, but also held a hint of fun. "Whenever Hyrule is in danger, I choose a hero to save it. He is usually also the holder of my piece of the Triforce. In fact, you three are my current Chosen Heroes," Zelda, or Farore I guess, smiled at us. "The last time Hyrule was endangered, I chose a young boy of the forest as my hero. He eventually gained a relic which allowed him to traverse the space-time continuum. Within a limited range, of course."

"The Ocarina of Time," murmured Wind.

Farore Zelda beamed at him. "Precisely. However, the seven sages meddled a bit with this, causing him to age when he traveled forwards in time." She sighed. "I suppose with all this meddling in time's flow, the consequences were destined to occur."

"Indeed, sister," interjected Nayru Zelda.

"From the Hero's actions, three different possible histories were born. In the first, he defeated the evil and was sent back to his childhood by his Zelda. Yet Zelda remained in that future, and the absence of the hero in this era caused a disruption in the far future. Thus, when Hyrule was once again threatened, I was unable to choose a hero. To contain the evil, the three of us flooded Hyrule. Resulting in your world," Farore Zelda said to Wind.

"In the second," said Nayru Zelda, "The Hero also defeated the evil and was sent back in time by Zelda. In this past world, however, he acted to stop the evil from ever endangering Hyrule in the first place, making his actions in the future nonexistent." She turned to me and said, "This is what formed this world we are currently in."

Din Zelda spoke up for the first time, her voice warm and charged with power. However, I thought I heard a hint of sadness. "In the third history, the Hero did not defeat the evil. He died in the final battle. The evil gained the Triforce, achieving ultimate power. However, the people of Hyrule fought against the evil." She looked at World with a small smile. "The Knights of Hyrule were among the most notable of those who fought. After a time, the descendants of the seven sages managed to seal away the evil. These events created your world. A world where Hyrule is diminished and nearly all lore is lost," she ended bitterly.

"Hey, it's not like it's your fault," I said.

_What am I doing? I just said that to DIN! One of the THREE!_

Din Zelda smiled bitterly at me. "In a way, it is. And you know it. Just as the Hero usually holds Farore's Triforce of Courage, the evil usually holds the Triforce of Power. My power."

"Wait... You mean to say, by 'the evil' you all have been talking about this entire time, you meant Ganondorf?"

"Yes. Though not always. He, or the Ganon entity, are merely the forms of the evil which most often take shape."

"O...kay... Not really sure what to make of that, but sure."

"This is all really awesome," said Wind. "Really! I've always wanted to know more about the Hero... But... what does all of this have to do with me getting stuck in this world?"

"Because something has gone wrong with the Hero of Time," replied Nayru Zelda.

"Uh... how can something in the past go wrong now? Didn't he live decades, if not centuries, ago? I mean, the way you're talking it sounds like prior to today nothing was wrong with the Hero. And now it is and has been for years?" World asked.

I groaned. "Kid, you're making my head spin."

Farore Zelda stated, "While a confusing explanation, what Link said isn't wrong. Before, nothing was wrong with the Hero. He lived out his days in this world's Hyrule. But now he didn't."

Wind made a face. "What do you mean, he didn't?"

Din Zelda spoke once again. "He fell through a hole in the world. He always had before, but he returned shortly afterwards. Now, he never returned."

I raised my eyebrow. "And how exactly do you fall out of the world? Did these guys," I gestured at Wind and World, "fall out of their worlds too?"

"No," retorted Din Zelda. "They underwent a dimensional shift from one parallel, closely-related world to another. Time, however, fell into completely separate dimension."

I raised my eyebrow again.

"A world related in a few respects to Hyrule, but is not Hyrule in any form or fashion. In fact, we have very little presence or power in this world, which is why we can't fix this ourselves."

World stirred. "So where'd he go? And how are the three of us supposed to fix it?"

Farore Zelda took this one. "You must go to this world, find Time, and bring him back."

"Okay," said Wind, "but you still haven't said where we're going."

Farore Zelda bit her lip. She hesitated, then softly said, "Termina."

* * *

**Clarification:**

**For reasons of Clarity**

**Farore Zelda = Zelda of LttP**

**Nayru Zelda = Zelda of TP**

**Din Zelda = Zelda/Tetra of WW**

**Just in case that wasn't clear.**


	5. Dimensions and Swords

**Shout out to Lady Skadi and DarthPhoenixFire for following and favoriting! Also we're over 500 hits! Yays!**

**Sorry about the lack of update for a while. College classes + holiday = 0 time. Happy late Fourth! If you don't celebrate the Fourth of July, then a very happy day of belated randomness to you!**

**The probability of me ever owning LoZ is about as likely as a missile is to turn into a bowl of petunias and then say, "Oh no not again".  
****(I don't own The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy either, by the way.)**

* * *

Farore Zelda bit her lip. She hesitated, then softly said, "Termina."

As soon as she said whatever that was, the auras evaporated away from all the Zeldas and their eyes returned to their normal blue.

And they all suddenly collapsed.

Twi quickly checked on them all. "They're fine," he announced, "just sleeping. Speaking of which, we probably all should too."

"I'm not tired!" I yawned. _Well that was embarrassing._

Twi just smiled. "Sure you're not. Just in case you do get tired, I've got some extra blankets for the three of us to share, as well as a few hammocks. It'll probably be best if we give my bed to the Zeldas."

"Agreed," said World.

We helped Twi get the Zeldas to his bed (_Who would've thought they would be so hard to get up a ladder?_) and then we all set up hammocks downstairs.

Even though I didn't want to admit it, I was pretty tired. I never even realized I'd fallen asleep until morning.

* * *

"Well... that was... different," said Tetra.

"Yeah, being the vessel for a goddess is weird," agreed the Zelda from World's... world. _Man, I need something to call her other than World's world's Zelda._

"No kidding," commented Midna.

"Midna," acknowledged the really tall Zelda. She seems to be the one Twi knows. "It's been a while."

"Yeah..." Midna responded awkwardly. "Uh... I hate to ask this... but how're you not... y'know... dead?"

Twi's Zelda gave her a really scary look. "Do not meddle in the Goddesses' affairs. Suffice it to say that I am here now. In other words, spoilers."

"Okay, okay. Backing off already. Sheesh." Midna disappeared into Twi's shadow again.

_Okay, I'm officially calling her Scary Zelda from now on. Although Tetra can be scary sometimes too... Like when she launched me at the Forbidden Fortress..._

Twi seemed to think the same thing. "Uh... Your Highness... wasn't that a bit harsh? It was a legitimate question, even if you didn't want to answer."

"I suppose. I will apologize to her later," replied Scary Zelda, looking only slightly concerned.

Twi's shadow crept suspiciously up his shoulder until it whispered to him, "I think Nayru might have rubbed off on her a bit too much."

Twi grunted in agreement.

I wondered where World had gotten to during the scariness. Looking around, I saw him chatting happily with his Zelda, who seems to be really nice. _I'll call her Nice Zelda._

I turned back around to find Tetra in my face. "WAAAAHHH!" I exclaimed.

"Nice to see you too," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Sorry. You kinda snuck up on me."

"Of course. I'm a pirate, after all," she said smugly. But then she ruined the effect by muttering, "Even if I am wearing this stupid dress," under her breath.

I just barely kept from laughing. _NO LINK DON"T YOU DARE LAUGH! You know she'll kill you! TWICE!_ That thought killed off any laughter that might have gotten through.

"Hey everyone!" Twi said. Once he had everybody's attention, he continued, "Well, we all know what we're supposed to do now. So... how do we do it?"

Scary Zelda cut in. "The Goddesses left us three some instructions we are to impart to you all."

There was a really long pause.

"Well, what are they?!" I blurted out. Everyone turned to stare at me. Especially Tetra, who looked... what's the term... not-plussed? And especially Scary Zelda. Who looked royally ticked off. And scary.

"It's rude to interrupt you know," she said coldly. And scarily.

"I thought you were done..."

"It was a Pause for Dramatic Effect, short Link."

World stealthily whispered to Twi, "I'm on Wind's side."

"Me too," he whispered back. "In her defense, Zelda's not usually like this. I think Nayru might've been talking through her for a bit too long."

World hid a snicker.

Somehow, Scary Zelda either didn't hear them or ignored them. Personally, I thought she just had it in for me.

"To continue," she said slowly while staring at me, "The three of you need to travel to Termina, a wholly separate dimension from Hyrule. So obviously, you will need to use the fortuitous collisions of realities to get there. It make take more than a single attempt, but you should get there in the end."

Everyone stared at her.

"What?" Me, World, and Twi said at the same time.

"Hey, stop copying me, copiers!" I yelled.

"Wow," said Tetra. "If I didn't have the same info as you, I'd have never understood that."

Nice Zelda admitted, "Me neither. Maybe you could simplify it for us, Zelda? Since you're so smart and all."

If anyone else had said that, I'd call them a kiss-up. But when Nice Zelda said it, I could tell it was just because she was so... nice. _I wish Tetra could be that nice sometimes..._

Scary Zelda looked less scary after that. "Fine. In order to get to Termina, you should use the places where the walls between worlds are thinnest." She looked at our blank faces and sighed. "You need to use the purple portals to get there."

"Ah!" I said, with the other 'Links' copying me again.

"Seriously, cut it out! No copying!"

"We aren't copying you," said World. "Since we're kind of sort of the same person, we just think alike sometimes."

"Doesn't change the fact that you're copying me!"

Tetra sighed. "Seriously, cut it out guys. More important fish to fry here."

World apologized, while I just hmphed. (Yep that's right I just invented a word. Deal with it or I'll sic Tingle on you.)

Twi decided to get things back under control. "So... how do we travel through the portals? On purpose I mean."

"You can't create portals. The dimensions are close together in specific places, like the area where my Link and Tetra's came through," said Nice Zelda. "But you can have a limited amount of control over what dimension you come out in."

"How do we do that? It sounds awesome!" said World.

"You use the one tool that all of you have," stated Tetra.

I turned to World and started comparing our inventory. "Hey! We all have boomerangs! Are we going to boomerang across?" I asked excitedly.

Tetra put her face in her hand and muttered, "Of course they have more than one common item." She looked at us and said, "Try touching your right shoulder."

I did, and found the hilt of the Master Sword. And so did Twi and World.

"Seriously guys? You dared to copy my name, clothes, words, and even my **SWORD**?!"

Twi sighed. "No, but since we're all Heroes who are fighting "the evil" as the Goddesses put it, it makes sense that we'd all need the Sword of Evil's Bane."

"Ooh! It specifically destroys evil?" World asked excitedly.

Twi and I just looked at him.

"Well, I didn't know! Remember, my world doesn't know most of this stuff. I just thought it shot awesome lasers."

Twi and I gaped at him.

"It shoots **LASERS**?!" both of us yelled.

"Uh oh," said Tetra.

"Here we go," added Nice Zelda.

"I wanna know how to shoot lasers! Teach me!" I whooped as I almost bounced around World.

"Um... you just kind of... slash at enemies. Although it doesn't work if you get hit. It seems to have something to do with being at full health."

"Hmm," said Twi. He tried it, but nothing happened. He tried again. And again.

"Nothing's going to happen," stated Scary Zelda.

"Why not?" Twi demanded. I was kinda surprised at how frustrated he was.

"Uh... it has something to do with the fact that Time failed in our world," cut in Nice Zelda. "Like, the sword thought it needed extra defenses since there wasn't a Hero for so long or something. The Three weren't exactly clear."

"Lemme try!" I swung the Master Sword so hard that I almost fell over.

"Hey," said Twi, "what's up with your sword?"

"Whadda ya mean?"

"Yeah, something's weird about it," added World.

"What?"

Midna popped out again. "The hilt's wrong. The cross-guard should be out, while yours is... tucked in or something. And the jewel isn't as vibrant. Also, the blade isn't as long as it should be and doesn't glow."

"WAAAAH?"

"She's right," Twi said grimly. He held his blade next to mine for comparison. World held his up as well.

Their swords were identical in their awesomeness. However, mine was definitely different.

"Where did you obtain your sword?" asked Scary Zelda softly. Actually, she was being kinda nice at the moment.

"In the lower level of Hyrule Castle."

"That's what's wrong. The Master Sword must always be stored in the Temple of Time or its power diminishes over the centuries when there is no Hero. In your world, it was especially long due to the temporal disruptions that the previous Zelda caused."

"Oh." I tried not to show how disappointed I was.

Scary Zelda looked at me with a small smile. "It's a problem easily fixed."

I looked up at her hopefully.

"All you need to do is go to the ruins of the Temple of Time in the Sacred Grove and place your blade into the pedestal of the Master Sword. It should only take a minute or so, then you may reclaim the sword."

I smiled at her. "Thanks! You know, you're not scary like I thought you were."

_Uhhhh... did that just come out of my mouth? Oh my seagulls she's going to eat me. Then Tetra's going to kill me. Again._

I could hear Twi, Midna and World almost exploding behind me with their attempts not to laugh. And maybe a couple of snickers from Tetra and Nice Zelda.

"Uh... I didn't mean that!"

Scary Zelda just looked at me.

_Here it comes..._

And then she did the single randomest thing possible.

She laughed.

Everyone's jaws hit the ground.

"You know, I think you're the first person other than my Link - and Midna of course - to think I'm not that frightening? Most of my courtiers can hardly hold a conversation with me without stuttering."

Everyone's jaws, including mine, were still on the ground.

Not-So-Scary Zelda pulled herself back together and said, "Link, you should probably take this Link to the Temple to restore his blade."

"As you wish, Princess," replied Twi after gracefully scraping his jaw off the floor. "Let's go, Wind."

* * *

**This chapter got super long, guys, so I chopped it in half. Part 2 coming soon :)**

**Also, which Zelda game is your favorite? Say in the reviews and it might have an impact on some of the story.**


	6. Warps and Master Swords

**Shout out to LeafeonPrincess and ELDYLO for following and favoriting!**

**Alright here's part 2! Enjoy!**

**I'm about as likely to own Zelda as I am to get to the other side of a Möbius Strip.**

* * *

"As you wish, Princess," replied Twi after gracefully scraping his jaw off the floor. "Let's go, Wind."

"O-Okay."

He led me over to his... animal. "What is that?" I asked.

Twi looked at me quizzically.

_I just noticed, he does that a __**lot**__._

"It's a horse. Her name is Epona."

"Oh! I've read about horses in Hyrule Castle! But they never sounded this awesome."

Twi accepted the compliment with a smile. "All right, up you get."

He gave me a boost and I climbed onto Epona's back. _Wow, this is a lot higher up than it looks. _She turned her head so she could see me and I got this really weird sense that she approved of me. _Now I know I'm going nuts._

Twi mounted behind me and urged Epona to go really fast.

I couldn't help myself. "WAAAAAAAHH!"

Twi gave me yet another quizzical glance. "This isn't even fast for Epona. It's just her normal speed."

"Oh. I-I knew that!"

Twi smiled and concentrated on the trail we were following.

We rode past this really pretty spring and then got to a clearing with a guy with this crazy afro sat cooking some soup. Twi dismounted and helped me off, then led Epona over to the guy.

"Hey. Mind watching my horse for me again? I'm heading to the Deep Woods." Twi said to Afro Guy.

"No prob. Want some lantern oil before you go? I'll give you a special deal of 20 rupees!"

Twi chuckled. "Thanks, but no thanks. I'm still good from last time I came by."

Afro Guy nodded, then saw me. "Hey, who's your buddy, guy?"

Twi glanced at me and said, "This is Wind. He's new around these parts. And is also not in need of lantern oil."

"Well, kid, if you ever do need some oil, you know where to come. Say, want some of my stew?"

I nodded and started to walk towards the cauldron. Suddenly I was barred by Twi's arm. _Man, that guy has some muscles._

"Uh... we're going to get some lunch right after our errand," Twi explained.

The guy just nodded again. "Well, you guys take care now!"

"Thanks, we will."

Twi led me towards a dank-looking cave.

"What was that about? I'm hungry," I whined.

"Trust me, I did you a favor. I ate his stew once. It almost killed me."

I felt my eyes grow huge. "Really?!"

"Really. Now we need to get moving."

We walked through the cave, taking out some keese and rats as we went. Twi handled this freaky plant that looked kind of like a Boko Baba, which he said was a Deku Baba. We finally got out and into a large clearing. Twi led the way to a smaller clearing, which opened to this a ginormous tree. It was even bigger than the Great Deku Tree! Twi headed off to the side of the tree instead of straight for it. He then started looking around for something.

"What're you looking for?"

"Um... a golden cucco."

"WHAT?"

"You heard me."

"Okay... why?"

Twi sighed. "Because it's how I was hoping to get you into the Sacred Grove. Unfortunately, it looks like Rusl picked it up after I went in. Which means we'll have to do it the easier way."

I gave him a weird look. "Why wouldn't we do the easy way in the first place?"

"Because it could have some... interesting effects on you."

"Huh?"

Twi sighed again and ran his hand down his face. "Midna? You want to explain?"

Midna popped out of the shadow. "Okay, kiddo. The only normal...ish... way to get to the Sacred Grove was by that cucco Twi was talking about. But since that's not an option, we're going to have to warp there."

"Cool!"

"It is for me and Twi. But it requires passing through the Twilight. Which has a certain effect upon the Hero. Since you're a Hero too, it'll probably happen to you."

I started to get a sinking feeling in my stomach. "Wh-What'll happen?"

Midna turned to Twi. "You okay with demonstrating?"

Twi grimaced, but said, "He needs to know what might happen."

Midna brought out this spiky black thing with glowing orange lines and touched Twi with it. The moment it touched his skin, he howled in pain. And turned into a... something. Midna was no longer part of his shadow, but was all gray and black with glowing orange hair and eyes.

"This is the Triforce of Courage's reaction to Twilight. Most people become spirits, but the Hero becomes a blue-eyed beast."

I felt like my jaw was going to fall off my face. "Wh-Wha-What is he?"

"A wolf."

Suddenly Twi turned back into himself. "You can turn back using the Master Sword. But until yours is restored, I don't think it'll work. If we do this, you could get stuck as a wolf."

I gulped.

"W-Well, it'll n-never be restored unless we do this, r-right?" _Oh man, I really hope I don't get stuck! I don't even know what a wolf is, how could I be one forever?!_

Twi nodded gravely. "You ready, Midna?"

"Yeah."

As we stood there, Midna touched both of us with the spiky thing. My bones started shifting and cracking and every part of my body felt like it was on fire. I howled in pain - and then I was fine. And a wolf. Midna then opened a black portal made of squares and spirals and pulled us into it with her magic. A second later, we were in a forest with even huger trees than before.

"The Sacred Grove," stated Midna.

Twi turned back into a Hylian. "You okay?"

I barked.

He smiled. "That's good. Now, I'll going to try to turn you back with my sword. So don't freak out or anything."

I nodded. _This is so weird. Everything's so big! And there's no colors! But the SMELLS!_ Suddenly my thoughts were interrupted with a poke. I yelped in surprise.

"Hey! I told you not to freak!"

I hung my head. _Wait a minute, it didn't work! I'm gonna be stuck like this forever!_

"Huh."

I looked up at Twi and whined.

"Well, after I touched you with my sword, your sword appeared on your back."

I looked back. _Yup, it's there all right._ I gave Twi a confused look. Or I tried to.

Midna piped up from Twi's shadow, "You can probably only be restored by your own sword. And now Twi can put it into the pedestal and it'll fix you once it's fixed."

I barked happily.

Twi smiled wickedly. "You know, you're kind of cute as a wolf."

I growled.

Twi laughed. "Yeah, yeah, I know. Let's go, okay?"

We walked through the forest of super-huge trees and soon found the ruins. We headed between some weird statues to a secret grove. Twi drew my sword and plunged it into the pedestal. It shot out golden beams of light. When they hit me, I felt the shifting again. Only this time it didn't hurt that much. When the light died down, I was me again.

"YESSSSS! I'M MEEEEE!"

"No kidding," retorted Midna with a smirk. "You might want to check on your Master Sword."

I whirled around faster than Orca-sensei when doing the Hurricane Spin. My sword had changed to look just like Twi's and World's. I slowly approached the softly-glowing blade. I reached out hesitantly, then gathered my courage and pulled it out, then pointed the blade to the sky.

"Congratulations," said Twi solemnly. "You have restored your Master Sword to its full power." He paused, then gave me a huge smile and said, "Let's warp back to Epona, shall we?"

"Yeah!"

* * *

**Don't forget to say which Zelda is your fave in the reviews!**


	7. Forwards

**So, I really got into writing mode. Here's the next chapter. (Two chaps? In one day? :O What is this world coming to?)**

**Shout out to Sibela Kahkariko, daisy bokoblin, the first Guest and the second Guest for favoriting, following, and reviewing!**

**Also, since I can't PM you: Guest the First, thanks so much! You're awesome!**

**And additionally: Guest the Second, I'm glad you do! That was my general idea. I'm happy to see that it got across :) And you're awesome!**

**A day may come when I own Zelda! But it is not this day! An hour of awesomeness for me and (honestly) probably the end of the franchise! But it is not this day. This day I write! The fiction of the fans!  
****(Really feeling the LotR today. And no, O Guardians of the Copyright, I don't claim to own that either.)**

* * *

"Hey! You're back! Did you fix your sword Wind?" I asked as soon as Wind and Twi reappeared through the trees.

Wind gave me a huge smile and drew his sword. It now was identical to mine and Twi's.

"Yay!" exclaimed Zelda, while Tetra smugly said, "Knew you could do it."

Twi's Zelda stepped forwards. "Link," she addressed Twi, "I'm glad you're back, but we need to teach you how to use your swords to travel across dimensions. Our time here grows short."

Twi looked at her quizzically.

My Zelda explained, "The Three called us out of our times and worlds. It is now almost time for them to send us back."

"We need to go to the general area where my Link and World, as you guys call him, came through," Tetra put in. "Us three can use our magic to warp there, once you tell us where it was. You guys will have to ride that..." she seemed to look for a word, "horse... thing... quickly."

"We can warp too!" Wind blurted.

All of the Zeldas raised an eyebrow. _That's kinda scary. I thought one Zelda was intimidating enough..._

Twi explained, "Midna can warp us using a Twili portal. However, it requires the change."

Tetra and my Zelda looked even more confused. However, Twi's Zelda merely said, "Ah."

"What? What change?" I inquired.

Midna came out of Twi's shadow and seemed to silently ask something. He nodded, and she brought out a spiky object. _Hmm... looks like some sort of dark magic construct which has been contained._ Midna touched Twi with it. He howled in pain and shape-shifted into a wolf.

"**WHAT?!**" I exclaimed along with Tetra and my Zelda.

"Yep," said Wind nonchalantly, "If one of us Heroes encounter some Twilight, the Triforce of Courage turns us into wolves."

"How do you know that?" I asked.

Wind tried to look casual, but was hemorrhaging smugness. "Oh, nothing. Just that we had to change to get to the Sacred Grove."

"You've done it before? What's it like? Any permanent changes? Enhanced sense of smell? Better hearing?" I babbled as Twi shifted back.

Wind looked a bit taken aback. He recovered himself and was about to retort some cocky answer when Twi interrupted, "The first time's the worst. It hurts like nothing you've ever experienced, World. Your bones deform and move and you feel like your entire body is being consumed by brimstone. You feel absolutely certain that you are going to die. And then it's over. Enhanced hearing and smell, degraded eyesight. After the first time, it's painful but bearable. That is what Wind is suggesting you do. Does that answer your questions?"

I gulped. Twi looked a bit scary.

"Link," said his Zelda, "I never knew that's what you had to go through. I'm so sorry. Sorry that I put you through all of that."

Twi mellowed out. "Princess, I am the Hero. I am destined to have a painful journey. You made the right decision. To save everyone in Hyrule."

Zelda's nod was barely perceptible.

Twi turned back to me. "Anyways. Are you willing to endure that ordeal, World? We could also take Epona. It'd take longer, but not much."

I looked away and bit my lip. Looking back at Twi, I replied, "We'll warp."

Twi nodded, with a mixed look of pain and approval. "They appeared in South Hyrule Field at the bridge. Let's go," he said to everyone. The Zeldas disappeared in showers of golden light. Midna touched Twi and Wind with the magic, then touched me. It was just like Twi had said. In that instant, I was dead sure that it was the end of me. And then it wasn't. _The smells! The sounds!_ Midna called on her magic, summoning a portal composed of black squares and blue spirals. She directed our bodies into it, and we were suddenly at the bridge where I first entered this world.

Twi and Wind shifted back.

I didn't.

Wind gave me a weird look. "World? Why aren't you changing back?"

I whined.

"OH."

Wind and I looked at Twi. He rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed. "I forgot to tell him how to change back."

Midna rolled her eyes. "Leave it to the Hero to think of everything except the most important part."

I looked at them expectantly.

"You just use the Master Sword," Wind told me. "Just think about touching it and it'll turn you back into your usual Hylian self."

_Hylian?! Focus, Link, you can ask them in a second._ I concentrated on the Master Sword. Suddenly my bones shifted, but as Twi had said it was much less painful than the first time. In a mater of seconds I was back to normal.

"Great," began Twi, "Now we ca-"

"HYLIANS? You guys are **Hylians?!**" I practically squeaked.

Everyone else made confused faces.

"Yeah..." said Wind like it was the most obvious thing in the world, "Aren't you?"

"Nope. In my world, Hylians died out centuries ago. I'm Hyrulian. Although I'm rumored to have Hylian ancestry through the Knights of Hyrule."

"Huh," Twi grunted.

"Look, this is interesting and all, but we're on a schedule." Midna said.

"Yeah," said Zelda. "I know it's an amazing discovery, but my time here is nearly gone."

"Oh, right," I replied sheepishly.

Twi's Zelda began to explain, "In order to cross worlds, the three of you must all focus on the same world. The name Termina _should_ be enough to get you there. Point your swords towards an area where portals have formed and focus on your need to get to Termina. The Master Swords should handle all the necessary calculations."

"Wait, back up," demanded Wind. "Whadda ya mean, '_should_'?"

Tetra answered him. "Well, no one's every done this before. This is all theory we're working on here. There may be problems once you actually try to cross. But according to the Goddesses, they're not very likely."

"That's reassuring," Wind muttered, his tone oozing sarcasm.

"Well, you'd better get started. Time's up," said Tetra.

The three of us looked at the Zeldas. They had begun to glow faintly and become transparent.

"B-But I don't want you to go! Can't you come with us?" Wind pleaded.

Tetra laughed. "Our part has been completed. The rest is up to you. It's your destiny to save reality. Ours is to point the way."

The Zeldas faded even further.

Tetra spoke to all of us, "May you have the power to persevere."

Twi's Zelda said, "May you have the wisdom to perceive."

My Zelda smiled. "May you have the courage to prevail."

As they faded away, they said together, "And above all else, may you have hope."

And they were gone.

"Zelda," I whispered, "I will see you again. I promise."

After a moment, Midna quietly spoke. "We should probably go."

"Yeah," agreed Twi.

He drew his sword and Wind and I followed suit. We pointed the Master Sword towards the bridge. Twi closed his eyes in concentration, while Wind screwed up his face so he looked like he had just eaten a lemon. I stilled my mind, and concentrated with every fiber of my being on 'Termina'.

The swords began to glow more and more brightly. A purple vortex opened in front of us.

Hyrule disappeared.


	8. Tingle vs the Rupee

*****WARNING! I MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE BEEN INSANE WHILE WRITING THIS CHAPTER*****

**The statement, "I own LoZ" is as likely to be true as, "Today I stole a TARDIS, ran into the starship Enterprise and had tea (earl grey. hot.) with Captain Jean-Luc Picard. And then I discovered that the meaning of life, the universe, and everything really is 42." **

**In other words, I own nothing mentioned above.**

* * *

I opened my eyes. And then I closed them again. _This can't be real._

I opened them._Yep, it's real. Somehow._

"D-Did we make it?" asked World. He, too opened his eyes. And promptly exclaimed, "Whaaaaa? Is this where we're supposed to be?"

Wind opened his eyes. "WAAAAHHH!"

_I really hope this isn't Termina._ I glanced around. "I... don't think so. I think the Zeldas would have mentioned something as insane as this."

Midna came out. And I think she broke. She was just staring at the utter and complete lunacy of this dimension.

I had expected Termina to at least be sort of similar to Hyrule. Like having grass. Trees. People. Normal stuff.

This was not normal.

We were on the moon.

**The flippin' moon.**

"What the heck are we doing **on the moon?!**" I demanded of Wind, World, and Midna.

"Beats me," replied World.

"What. Is. That." Midna said.

We all looked to where she was pointing.

"**What.**" I chorused along with World.

"**Oh no.**" Wind said in a horrified tone.

There was a guy dressed in green with a red nose in some sort of ship.

Firing rupees.

At a huge rupee.

At Wind's declaration of terror, we all looked at him.

"Uh... I think I know how we got here. And we need to leave. **Now**."

I quirked my eyebrow.

"Um... y'know how we were supposed to concentrate on Termina?"

World slapped his forehead.

Wind made a face at him and continued, "Well, I randomly started wondering how many rupees I have left. But it was only for a second!"

"So," I said, "You're the reason why we're in this... place. Other than the obvious reason of preserving our sanity, why are you so eager to leave?"

Wind gulped. "Tingle," he replied in a voice of horror.

We all looked at him like he'd gone nuts. Which he probably had.

"In my world, Tingle's this guy who thinks he's a fairy. And he thinks I'm a fairy that can help him on his quest to fairyness. Take my word for it, we need to get out before he finds 'three forest fairies and a shadow imp'."

"HEY! WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?!" retorted Midna.

"Seriously we just need to get out! Anywhere but here!"

Some rupees fell to the lunar surface near us. The battle appeared to be moving in our direction.

"Agreed," I said.

We all raised our swords. I was just hoping to land somewhere safe.

We warped out of the dimension of craziness and into a large, quiet, and dark room. The only source of illumination came from the glowing designs on the walls.

_Wait. These are Twili designs. Which means..._

"Hello Link. Welcome to the Twilight Realm."

* * *

**So yeah. Crazy chapter of craziness. Don't worry it'll go back to normal. Ish.**

**Tingle Tingle Kooloo-limpah!**


	9. Midna

**And somehow in the previous Chapter of Insanity, we went over 10,000 words! Huzzah!**

**And we're over 1,000 hits! 8D Cookies for all of you amazing and awesome people!**

**Shout out to pikatwins234, ****Whiskertail, ****and Pyrania0719 for following and reviewing!**

**Whiskertail: Thanks! Glad you liked it :) Concerning Tingle, I personally find him to be a tad weird. However, I'm cool with fans of Tingle as well.**

**I do not own LoZ, nor do I claim to. Including the direct quote in this chapter.**

**R&R is most appreciated!**

* * *

"Hello Link. Welcome to the Twilight Realm."

I slowly turned around. At the other end of the hall, a woman sat on a throne. A cloak covered in Twili designs covered her head and most of her body. Her luminous orange hair was done in an elaborate style while her pale face and glowing eyes seemed to have been sculpted by the Three themselves. She was the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen.

I must've been staring for a while, because the woman smirked and said, "What? Say something! Am I so beautiful that you've no words left?"

I started a little, surprised at the accuracy of her remark.

"Ah... how do you know my - our - names?" I replied, just now remembering World and Wind.

Midna floated forwards slightly. I was surprised that she was in her non-shadow form, but this is the Twilight Realm after all. Her realm.

Midna floated, staring at the woman with a look that was a weird mixture of shock and, oddly, longing.

The woman smirked again. "Hello, Midna. Would you introduce me, please?"

"Uhh... guys..." Midna began, "Meet... Me."

Wind and World could only stare and say, "Whaaa?"

I quirked my eyebrow at the Midnas.

The tall woman explained, "Time doesn't always flow at the same rate in different dimensions. I am the Midna from your future."

"O...kay..." was all I could say.

"You could call me Future Midna if that helps. Although 'Your Great and Glorious Highness' works as well. After all, you are addressing the Queen of the Twilight."

I snorted before I realized what I was doing. "Uh... Sorry, Midna."

Future Midna raised an elegant eyebrow. "It's fine. This time."

"Um... I hate to intrude, but what's going on?" World asked.

"We are in the Twilight Realm, my home. This is me from the future. What's so confusing?" replied Present Midna.

"Well..." World began, but was interrupted by Wind. "How come you're all small and... stuff," he quickly remembered to avoid the term 'imp', "and future you is all tall and pretty?"

I ran my hand down my face. _Here it comes._

Present Midna asked in a deadly voice, "Are you saying I'm not pretty?"

"N-No!"

"Good."

"I - we - were placed under a curse by a usurper," Future Midna answered. "Assuming Twi's quest is completed successfully, the curse is broken and I regain my true form."

I gave Future Midna a quizzical look, but before I could ask, World inquired, "What do you mean, assuming?"

"Time is in flux. Especially so now with the events you all are wrapped up in. If you manage to repair reality and go back to your home dimensions, then each of you still has to complete your original quest. In this current venture and in those quests, there is always the potential for failure. This is the future if Twi completes both of his quests successfully."

"Ah," replied World, "Thanks for explaining."

Future Midna just smiled.

"I still don't get it," sulked Wind.

Before either Midna could get irritable, World assured him that he would explain it later.

"If I remember correctly," stated Future Midna, "you all should be getting very hungry about now."

As if on cue, mine and Wind's stomachs growled.

I reddened from embarrassment.

Future Midna continued, "You can all rest here until it's time for you to move on. I'll have a feast prepared for you all. Judging by Twi's appetite, you'll need a lot of food."

Wind's face brightened. "Thanks, Midna!"

Future Midna waved her hand, summoning attendants. "Please take the Heroes to a room where they can rest and refresh themselves."

The attendants bowed, and started to lead the way out.

Future Midna abruptly said, "Midna, I need to talk to you."

I started to turn back.

The eyes of Midna, Queen of the Twilight, bored into me. "Alone."

I looked at Present Midna, and she nodded.

"See ya later," I said to her as I followed the attendants.

"Yeah."

* * *

Future Me sighed when Twi was finally gone. As she relaxed, I realized just how much of a front she was putting up. At first, she'd seemed confident and poised. Now, it was obvious to me that she was barely holding back tears.

Knowing myself, I waited for her to speak.

She took a deep breath. "I've missed him so much," she whispered.

Future Me took another moment to compose herself, then turned to me. "Hello. It's been a while."

"I guess it has."

"Before you continue on, there are a few things you need to know. About this current venture and about saving our Link's Hyrule."

"Ok. Let's start with the dimensional collapse one. It'll probably be easier than the other."

Future Me smiled sadly. "You don't know how true those words are."

She walked back to the throne and sat. "The quest you are presently engaged in is highly rewarding. You will see all three Links grow stronger individually and as a team. Success is crucial to the continuation of all realities. But it comes at great cost."

She paused, took a breath, and continued. "If you are victorious, all the Links will be sent back to their realities and their quests. But in order for them to be able to complete their tasks as the Goddesses intended, they must forget everything that is not a part of their home reality. But you - you are from a different world altogether. You will remember. You will remember their jokes, their problems, their victories. And you will see them forget it all. See them forget each other. See our Link revert from the mighty Hero he will become. If you complete his quest, he will attain that greatness once more, but without a single thought that he'd gained it previously with his friends and fellow Heroes."

I looked at the ground. _There's always a price. And it's always what you don't want to give up,_ I thought bitterly.

Future Me gave me an understanding glance, since she knew exactly what I was thinking. She softly continued. "It is a high price. But not the highest you will pay."

I looked back at her and was startled to see tears running down her face.

However, she kept her voice steady as she continued once more. "You and Link have acquired the first shard of the Mirror of Twilight, right?"

I nodded.

"Then you have seen its evil power. It will only seem greater as you continue. Do you know what must be done?"

My eyes widened.

Future me smiled sadly. "Yes, of course you do. You and Link can save his world of light from the darkness. But again, there is a cost. The highest cost.

"In order to save him and his world, you must give him up." Future Me finally broke down into small sobs.

I felt tears running down my own face. "But... I - I..."

She smiled through her tears. "I know. I still do as well... I didn't realize how hard it would be to see him again."

We were silent for a while, drawing comfort from each other's presence and mulling over the information we had discussed.

Future Me eventually pulled herself back together. "Come, you're tired and it's almost time for the feast. You need to rest."

I nodded and followed her out of the throne room.

* * *

"Thanks for the hospitality, Midna," I thanked Future Midna the next morning. Or whatever time they have in the Twilight Realm.

She smirked back. "Anytime."

"Well, we should probably be going," I said. "We need to get to Termina. Without any more detours." I looked pointedly at Wind.

"Fine, fine. It really was an accident, you know."

"Yeah. But I'd prefer not to repeat its outcome."

"Agreed," Wind replied with a shiver.

"Thank you again, Future Midna," said World, "It was really nice of you to go to all that trouble. Especially the supplies."

She smiled. "Not a problem, kiddo."

World smiled back at her, then asked, "You guys ready?"

"As I'll ever be," I replied. I smiled at the Queen of the Twilight. "See ya in the future, Midna."

Future Midna just smiled.

Present Midna joined us as we raised our swords and concentrated on Termina.

The orange glow of the Twilight Realm disappeared.

* * *

I stood there for a while after they'd left, gazing at the spot where I'd seen Twi, Wind, and World for the very last time.

"Wind… World… I'll miss you guys."

A single tear rolled down my cheek.

"Link... Hero of Twilight..." I whispered.

"I love you."


	10. What is up with the moon?

**Shout out to ImpoliteCanadian and ragecage for favoriting and following!**

**The likelihood of me ever owning LoZ is equivalent to the likelihood of me swearing by my pretty floral bonnet while wearing my cunning hat and topping it all off by calling the situation "shiny". And actually owning a Firefly class spaceship.**

**I don't own Firefly either. Joss Whedon, the Lord of Awesomeness, does.**

**Oh and I don't claim to own the direct quotes from one of the LoZ games in here, either.**

**R&R is most appreciated!**

* * *

"You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?"

A chill ran down my spine and my eyes snapped open. A strange man with a toothy smile and a bag covered in masks stood before us.

Twi gripped the hilt of his sword. "Who are you?"

The man's creepy smile didn't change. "I am the Happy Mask Salesman. I don't suppose you're looking for... yourself, in a manner of speaking?"

"H...H... His lips didn't even move!" whispered Wind.

"I know! So creepy!" I whispered back.

Even Twi looked shaken. Nevertheless, he replied challengingly, "And why would you suppose a thing like that?"

"Oh, only that I met a boy who looks extremely similar to the two with you. And would look quite similar to yourself when he grew up," the man speculated eerily. "I asked him to bring me my precious mask which was stolen. He set out, only to never return."

"He's still smiling!" Wind whispered, obviously very freaked out.

"Why would he not come back?" I inquired nervously.

The Happy Mask Salesman continued to smile. Suddenly his eyes opened. As in one second they were closed and the next they were open. Without any movement in between.

_Creeeeeeepyyyyyyy!_

"He met with a terrible fate," he said menacingly. "He went after the mask, which had a great evil sealed within it. It summoned the moon in an attempt to crash it into Termina and thus consume everything. That boy followed it into the moon. The moon stopped falling. But the boy never returned. He met with a terrible... **terrible**... fate."

By this point I was really scared. Wind was shivering so hard that he looked like he'd just emerged from a snowstorm. Twi remained composed, but I could see a small drop of sweat roll down his face.

"Any idea what that 'terrible fate' was?" Twi asked.

The salesman closed his eyes again. "Idea? Most certainly. Know for sure? Absolutely not."

Twi's lips tightened.

"But," the Happy Mask Salesman continued merrily, "I do know for certain that if you can reach the top of the clock tower in the center of town, there is a warp into the moon."

"Um," I said, "this might not be important but... when did you last see the boy?"

The man's eyes popped open again. "Ah, someone who knows what questions to ask. I asked the boy to help me... exactly ten years ago."

"**WHAT?**" all of us chorused.

"He met with a terrible fate," explained the salesman calmly.

"Then," Wind ventured, "If it's been that long... why are you still here?"

A dark aura seemed to gather around the beaming salesman. "I will not rest until I retrieve what is mine. That mask... That precious mask... I must have it!"

My eyes widened. _Creepy weirdo..._

And suddenly the Happy Mask Salesman went back to normal. "I'd be much obliged if you three would get it back for me. I'm sure you'll find... you... along the way. One thing I am sure of is that he's still alive."

I wanted to ask how he knew, but then realized that maybe I really didn't want to know.

"O...kay, we'll be on our way then," Twi said hurriedly.

"Thank you. Please **do not** forget my precious mask."

We practically ran to the door of the building.

"Well, that's convenient." I said. The clock tower was right across the square. "Guys?"

I didn't get an answer.

I turned around, only to see them staring up at the sky.

"What. Is up. With the moon." Twi deadpanned.

"WAAAHH!" Wind said. Again. _He really does say that a lot._

I turned to where they were looking.

"..."

My jaw hit the ground. I can't believe I didn't notice previously. Just above the clock tower was, indeed, a moon.

A moon with huge, glowing, insane orange eyes and a mouth which looked to be made for crushing buildings.

"W-We have to go **inside** that?!" I yelled.

Twi nodded mutely. Wind didn't notice, as he was still completely in shock.

Midna popped out. "Well, let's get going. We don't have time to just... OH SWEET TWILIGHT WHAT IS **THAT**?!" she said as she noticed the moon.

"The moon," I replied.

Twi added, "The one you were just about to suggest we enter."

We all stared at it for a while.

"Well, we really should get going," I said.

Twi and Midna pulled themselves together and nodded.

Wind just said, "Unghugh..."

"Hey. Focus," said Midna.

When Wind didn't respond, she slapped him.

"WHAAA? Midna, why'd you do that? That hurt!"

"At least you're responding now."

"HEY!"

Before they could really start bickering, Twi cut in, "GUYS! Focus! How are we going to get on top of the clock tower?"

Everyone paused to think.

"We could hookshot up. There's wood around the door," I suggested.

"Sorry," replied Twi, "mine need a little more than just wood to hang on to."

"Why doesn't Midna just warp us up?" asked Wind.

Twi looked to Midna, who thought for a second.

"Hmm... I'm not sure if Twili magic will work here. But it's worth a shot. After all, it works in Hyrule, so why not here?"

"Alright, let's do this!" I exclaimed.

Midna brought out the dark magic thingy and soon all three of us Links were wolves. She then reached out with her magic and successfully opened a portal. She directed us through it and then we were all standing atop the clock tower. Once we'd shifted back into ourselves, we looked around. Just like the creepy salesman had said, there was a warp leading into the moon's mouth. _Really? This just keeps getting creepier._

"I bet it's all stone and lava in there," said Wind.

"I'm thinking more along the lines of demons and Poes," Twi retorted.

I added, "Bet you it turns out being worse than a water temple."

Twi and Wind shuddered.

Midna rolled her eyes. "Let's just go and find out already."

We stepped into the warp and emerged into the horrible, terrible scene of... a pretty tree in the middle of a boundless meadow?!

"**What?**" All of us, including Midna, said.

We really were in a beautiful meadow with a cloudless sky. Although it did have kind of a hallucinatory feel to it.

Since it seemed to be the only point of interest, we headed for the tree. As we approached it, Wind exclaimed, "Over there! There's a kid!" He pointed at the trunk of the tree.

We walked up to the kid. He stood up and examined us. The kid looked eerily similar to the Happy Mask Salesman, but I couldn't tell for sure because he was wearing a mask of unsurpassed creepiness. It was mostly purple along with a few other colors. And had the same baleful, glaring eyes as the moon.

"Will you play... with me?" asked the kid.

"Umm... sure?" Twi replied.

The kid looked us over. "Let's play good guys against bad guys... yes, let's play that. You be the bad guys. And when you're bad, you just run. That's fine, right?"

_And I thought that salesman was creepy..._

"Well?" questioned the kid, "Shall we play?"

Suddenly we were all warped to a large room with five crazy-colored walls, each with a super-creepy mask. But that was nothing in comparison to what was before us. Four chains were connected to the wall with the kid's creepy purple mask. The chains were connected to a green figure held against that wall.

I looked to the others to see if they had any idea what this was.

Twi looked shocked.

Wind appeared concerned and almost... reverent.

"Time," he breathed.

* * *

**Yep, we finally got there! Drinks all around!**


	11. Time and Majora

**Shout out to Bookworm24680 and Enhanced-Human for favoriting and following!**

**And now, some replies to my guest reviewers:**

**Guest the Second: Gotta love them water temples. BWAHAHAHAHAHA.**

**Spiritoffire1: Thanks! :D**

**I'll own LoZ around the same time that I own the key of Orthanc and the keys of Barad-Dûr itself, along with the crowns of the Seven Kings and the rods of the Five Wizards.**

**In other words, I own neither LoZ nor LotR.**

* * *

"Time," I breathed.

The small figure of the Hero of Time looked up. "Well, what's this? Another hallucination? I don't have time for you."

I looked at Twi and World. They looked just as confused as I was.

"What do you mean, hallucinations?" asked Twi.

Time looked up, interested this time. "A new question. Interesting."

"Seriously, we're real," World said.

"What's a halloo... halloo-sin-oh thingy?" I asked.

Twi lifted an eyebrow at me (again).

World explained, "It's when you see something that isn't really there."

"Oh! Like a mirage," I realized.

"Yep."

A sudden bark of laughter caught our attention again. Time, still laughing, said, "You guys are the most entertaining hallucinations yet. Hope it only gets better from here."

Twi was beginning to get annoyed. "Kid. We're seriously real. The goddesses sent us to find you. We're the next Heroes after you."

Time thought about this. "Nice try, but if the goddesses cared at all about what happens to this world, they'd have shown up a long time ago."

"Wait," World cut in , "The Happy Mask Salesman said you'd been here ten years! How come you only look as old as Wind here?" He pointed at me.

Time got a crazy look in his eyes. "I was the Hero of Time. My actions, and those of -" he winced, "her... caused three possible routes for the flow of time to follow. I am a child. I am an adult. And I am dead." He laughed like he was insane. Which I was beginning to think he was.

Suddenly a flash of light blinded me. When I could see again, my jaw hit the floor. Where the kid my age had been was now a guy Twi's age.

"Uh... what just happened?" questioned World.

Midna popped out and hugged Twi's arm.

Looking at Twi, I saw his face contorted in horror.

I began to freak out a little. _I didn't think anything could scare Twi! He's so cool and stuff. He wasn't even scared of the Helmaroc King! Whatever's going on must be really bad..._

"Child. Adult. Death," said Twi in a really scary voice. The scary part wasn't that he was yelling at us or mad or anything. The scary part was the fear his words were filled with.

World looked at him. "Twi...?"

"Nayru said Time was wounded and that as a result all of our realities were falling apart. For some reason, Time is cycling through those realities. Child, my world. Adult, your world, Wind." He looked at World. "And Death."

World's eyes widened. "You don't mean...?"

"Yep."

"Could someone **please** tell me what's going on?!" I demanded. It was really freaking me out that both of the 'other Links' were freaked out.

"It means," Midna said grimly, "That Time has been aging, dying and being revived multiple times every day for ten years."

I was too scared to even exclaim 'WAHHH!'.

Time laughed again. It sounded bitter and frantic. "Such smart hallucinations. I begin to think that you might be real after all. No other hallucinations have been able to reason it out, or cared to." His breathing became harsh and he looked down. "If you are real... The kids might not want to see this one. Feels like it's my heart, this time," Time panted.

"Wind, World, don't look until we say," Midna said immediately.

"But-" I tried to complain.

"**NOW!"**

World and I turned around. But I peeked anyway.

Another flash of light. Time was still Twi's age. But instead of laughing or calling us halloo...halloo-sin... mirages, he was limply hanging from the chains. A red stain slowly formed on his green tunic. Red liquid dripped from his mouth.

Time was dead.

"WHAT JUST HAPPENED!" I screamed.

"I told you not to loo-"

"WHAT HAPPENED! HE'S THE HERO OF TIME! HE CAN'T BE...HE CAN'T..." I sobbed. I just couldn't bring myself to say it.

"He won't be for that much longer," Twi said.

I looked up in surprise. I didn't hear what Twi said so much as Twi's tone. It vibrated with powerful, red emotion. Rage.

Suddenly another light flashed. And Time was back to my age. "Still here, huh? Guess you're real after all."

"I swear," Twi growled, "I will take down whatever's causing this. I will end this... this..." He looked up and snarled, "Abomination."

I was almost more scared of him than of what was going on. He looked ready to kill something. Actually, a specific something.

I followed his gaze to the purple mask above Time's head.

It seemed to glow, then flew forward and grew tentacles. _This just can't stop getting freakier, can it?_

All three of us drew our swords.

I attacked with a jump attack, while World charged it really, **really** fast and stabbed the mask. I heard a howl behind me, and glanced back to see Twi in his wolf form loping toward us. He jumped onto the mask and bit it and bit it and bit it until it shook him off. I unleashed a spin attack that knocked the mask to the floor. World shot laser beams at it and Midna used her magic to help Twi burst straight through it.

The mask squealed and convulsed in pain. And then it convulsed into a Hylianoid shape. Bare muscle was exposed on its limbs and its single eye looked at us with pure hatred.

We attacked again, using several of the same tactics as before. And then it spun around the room, knocking us down. Twi stopped that with another of his hang-on-and-bite attacks. Soon, it was down again. Only to change into a demonic, freakiest-thing-yet form. Its mouth was open, ready to eat us, and its arms morphed into tentacle-whip-things.

Again we attacked. This one seemed a lot harder than the other versions of the mask. We used the same attacks with not as much effect. And then it started to go **fast**. Faster than when World charged at it. No one, not even Midna could keep up with it. I knew there was only one thing that would work. But no matter how hard I'd tried, I'd never been able to do it successfully.

But I had to try. My friends' lives depended on it.

I gathered energy, then yelled, "HURRICANE SPIN!" I moved around the room in the ultimate sword technique. Not even the demon mask could avoid me. I spun and spun until I could barely stand.

"Wind? You okay?"

_That's World..._

"Kiddo?! You better be okay!"

_Midna? Ugh I wish the world would stop spinning..._

"Ughhhhhhh..." I groaned.

"He's okay!"

"Whew."

"I knew the whole time."

"Oh come on, Midna. You were worried."

The room finally stopped. Wind, Twi and Midna were right next to me.

"Where'd the demon mask go?" I asked.

Twi pointed. It lay in the middle of the room, apparently dead.

"I... I killed it!"

"Nice try," came Time's voice.

We all looked at him. He was Twi's age at the moment.

"Those were some great techniques," he continued, "But you've really just made things worse."

The moon shook around us. Time's chains glowed a sickly purple-green color.

Time winced like he was under a huge weight. "Hurry... not enough time... take this... Only way... Then break these damn chains... Only way... freedom..." He somehow summoned a mask and dropped it at his feet.

Then the light flashed again. He was dead. Another flash. Kid. Another. Adult. Another. Death.

The flashes came faster and faster until the light shot into the mask. In the sudden darkness, I heard a heartbeat. The room lit up again, only to reveal the mask, alive and back at stage one.

"World, let's hold it off!" I yelled. "Twi, go check out that mask!"

As we engaged the demon mask once again, Twi ran to the mask Time had dropped. He put it on. And screamed, louder even than when he turned into a wolf. And suddenly he was both Twi and not Twi. The mask resembled his face, but like it had been made... I dunno... perfect. No flaws or anything. No emotion either. He was bulkier, taller, and wielded this really weird sword that looked like a couple of red and blue criss-crossed wires.

By the point he'd recovered from the change, World and I had already beaten stage one again. The purple mask convulsed into stage two, and all of us, including Twi, attacked.

This time, stage two only lasted for a minute or so, since we already knew how to defeat it. Also, Twi seemed super powered-up because of that mask.

While the mask transformed once again, World said, "Hey, Wind! Can you do that super spinny-thing again?"

I shook my head. "Don't have enough magic left."

The demon mask chose that moment to attack. We did basically did the same things as before, but they seemed to have even less effect than last time. And then it attacked us with the light it had taken from Time. World and I screamed in agony. I managed to open my eyes enough to see Twi charging the demon. He didn't really seem to be affected. When the light came near him, he just cut through it with his weird sword.

Twi leaped forward and stabbed the mask through the... mask. If it had been a creature, it would've been a heart-wound.

"That's for Time," he growled.

The mask screamed, convulsed, and died. Again.

Time's chains glowed again, with Time himself sagging between them, unconscious.

With a loud yell, Twi rushed at Time and cut the chains.

The glow disappeared and Time fell forwards onto Twi, who screamed as he ripped the mask off. It fell to the ground near the demon mask, which seemed to be dead for real this time.

Time opened his eyes. "You... did it..."

"Yep," I exclaimed, "We just saved the Hero of Time!"

Time smiled tiredly. "Thanks..." He fell unconscious again.

We all took a moment to breathe.

Suddenly, the most sinister chuckles **ever** filled the room.

"Well," said the new voice. "That was... entertaining."


	12. The One Behind the Mask

**7-14-14**

**Shout out to all of the people of various countries and territories who're reading this! Canadians, Australians, Qatari, Filipinos, Germans, Swedish, Chinese, Mexicans, Malaysians, Hong Kongese, Japanese, British, People of the Northern Marianna Islands, Chileans, Puerto Ricans, Lithuanians, Irish, Norwegians, and Spanish, and last but not least my fellow Americans, you people are all AWESOME!**

**I'll own LoZ around the same time that the military will disclose the fact that the Stargate is real after all and the the original movie and the TV franchise and its movies, were all just cover ups. Awesome cover ups, I might add.**

**I don't own LoZ or Stargate. Or the direct quotes from the games used below.**

**R&R is most appreciated! Also, I may rework this chap so tell me what you think.**

* * *

**7-17-14**

**So, I've tinkered with this chap. Yeah, it's not an actual update / new chap *sigh*. Sorry about that. But hopefully this works better now. It's mostly the same info with some added stuff in places. Please tell me what you think of it now :) Thanks!**

* * *

"Well. That was... entertaining."

I whirled around, my hand once again on the hilt of the Master Sword. Wind and World also went on the defensive, turning towards the voice's source.

"Ooh! I love a Hero with spirit!" said the newcomer. White hair and one purple-eyelinered eye peeked over a red cape with a huge collar.

I couldn't help but gape at his appearance. _So... weird._

"...Is that a guy?" Wind asked World.

"I'm... not sure."

The newcomer scowled at them. "Of course I'm a man!"

He struck some really weird poses. And I mean **weird**. "Behold! Such beauty! Such a pure form!"

He teleported in a flurry of diamonds.

I looked around quickly waiting for him to reappear. _I really hate teleporters. Never know where they'll pop up._

And then I felt hands on my shoulders.

_What. the. HECK._

I quickly drew my sword, spun, and swung at the creep's neck. World and Wind moved to back me up.

The creeper smirked and caught my sword with his hand, which promptly started to smoke. He teleported away again.

He reappeared off to the side and laughed. "Ah! A fighter! Good reflexes, boy. You remind me strongly of a certain sky child. Of course, there's a good reason for that. But history's so boring, isn't it? I'm much more interested in the future... or lack thereof."

I scowled. "Do you have something to do with this collapse of reality business, you creep?"

The guy's eyes widened for dramatic effect. "Creep! How dare you address me so! I am Ghirahim! But I prefer to be indulged with my full title... Know that you are in the presence of a Demon Lord!"

I shrugged. "Fine, Demon Lord. Just answer the question."

The demon smirked again. "I may have informed a certain mask that there was more to consume that this pathetic excuse of a world. Like time itself, for instance. I mean, why consume one world when you can consume them all and all of their possibilities?"

"What? Why do you want the worlds to end?" demanded World."What could you possibly get out of it?"

Ghirahim sighed. "Impetuous little Hero. Always questioning what you have no possible concept or understanding of."

World growled and lunged at the creeper demon, only to hit a cloud of diamonds.

"See? My point exactly," Ghirahim said, leisurely walking several meters behind him.

World whipped around and pointed the Master Sword at the demon creep. "How on Hyrule did that prove your point? That doesn't make SENSE!"

"It proves it because it DOES, Hero of Worlds," Ghirahim growled in exasperation. "Honestly. You know, you're rather tiresome. Not like the sky child or the Hero of Twilight over there. I begin to question whether you truly bear the Spirit of the Hero..."

"I am SO a Hero! And how the heck do you know who we are?"

The demon glared at World. "Ugh, again with questioning that which you can't understand."

"You leave World alone! Of course he's really a Hero! If he wasn't, he wouldn't be here. Now explain or get lost, creep!" yelled Wind.

"Ah, the Hero of Winds finally speaks up." Ghirahim's smirk melted into a blank expression, swiftly followed by a glare. "I've just remembered... It was your fault..."

"Um... what? I've never even seen you before, stalker!"

"It was your fault... All that salt water..." Ghirahim growled. Then suddenly he seemed to regain control of himself. "Well, I'll let bygones be bygones... for now..." He smiled creepily.

I scowled at the creeper demon and lifted my blade. "Are you just here to be annoying? Or are you actually going to give us information or fight us or something?"

"Mmm. I love a man of action," he replied as he shifted the creepy smiled to me. And somehow made it ten times creepier.

_Ugh I am __**so**__ jumping into the next spring I see and scrubbing until the creepy comes off._

Ghirahim teleported to a spot to my left and continued, "Really, I came to enjoy the entertainment provided by yourselves and the hideous mask. Ugh it had **such** horrible taste. Purple should **never** go with those other colors! ...But I digress. You all put on such a **fabulous** show! You might even be a challenge to my plans. I haven't been this excited in millennia!"

"Yeah? Well, you'll have to go through all of us first," stated a new voice.

"Time! You're awake again!" exclaimed Wind.

Time picked himself up and stood, still a little hunched over. His voice, roughened with pain, came again. "We will never let you triumph. In fact, the three of them defeating Majora upset those 'fabulous' plans of yours, didn't it?" He laughed hoarsely. "We're already that much closer to defeating you."

Ghirahim laughed menacingly. "Another **real** Hero. And yes, it did. I was rather hoping none of you would notice that. Still, it makes no difference. That was merely Plan A."

"Although," he added with a sick smile, "those ten years of torture were **exquisite**. Your screams and sobs were music to my ears, Hero of Time."

Time snarled and tried to rush at Ghirahim but fell to his knees after two steps. "I swear..." he panted, "I... will make you... pay for those years."

Ghirahim merely laughed again. "Well, it's been fun, but it's time to go. I have worlds to end, after all." He teleported away with yet another diamond cloud.

* * *

Suddenly, we were all back in the town square. There was no sign of the moon, thank Farore.

The Happy Mask Salesman picked the mask up off the ground. "It seems the evil has left the mask, after all."

"When did you get here?!" Wind questioned.

The salesman just smiled at him. _And I thought __**that **__was the creepiest thing I'd see today..._

The Happy Mask Salesman abruptly noticed the other mask, the one I had used in the battle. "What's this now?"

"Not yours," said Time flatly. "We'll be taking that one."

"Ah, it is good to see you again, boy. Although you aren't that much of a child at the moment. You others, thank you for retrieving my precious mask. I'm sure that you're pleased to have found yourself at last."

"Uh... sure. We should be going."

"But of course. I will be hoping that your worlds do not meet with a terrible fate." He walked away.

"Wait!" I called after him, "Do you know what's going on? Give us a hint, at least."

The mask salesman faded into thin air.

"Well, that was helpful," I muttered.

In the meantime, Wind and World were making sure that Time was okay. Well, as okay as you can be after years of torture.

"What can we do to help?" World asked him.

Time winced. "Well, first we need to get back to Hyrule. Preferably, my time. And then, unfortunately, I'll probably need to see a Great Fairy. Zelda would help as well."

"What's so unfortunate about Great Fairies? The one I met was smoking hot," I said. "I-I mean... not that attractive and... lacking personality," I amended after my shadow glared at me menacingly.

All the other Links looked at me, with Time quirking his eyebrow.

"Okay, then," said Wind. "Despite Twi making his girlfriend mad, I agree about the Great Fairy. In my world, they look a little weird with multiple arms and all, but they're pretty good all around."

World spoke up, "Same for my world. Minus the multiple arms."

Time sighed tiredly. "You'll see when we get there."


	13. Time's Hyrule

**Shout out to kittykruger, brandonbgamer, samswimmer, and Link'sLily for favoriting, following, and reviewing!**

**Now comes the time of fan interaction! I may do a side arc for this story involving the Four Sword. There is a poll on my profile. Please go vote if you want stuff involving the four Links and all that or not! Voting is highly encouraged!**

**I will own LoZ around the same time that Dumbledore comes back like Gandalf did.**

**R&R is appreciated, as is voting in that poll!**

* * *

We warped into a small meadow surrounded by stone walls. As me, World, and Twi looked around with interest, Time facepalmed.

"What's wrong?" Twi asked as he supported the wounded Hero of Time.

Despite Time's distress I couldn't help grinning. _Oh my Farore I can't believe that I met Time! And saved him! SQUEEEEE - *cough cough* Ummm... Anyway._

Time's hand slowly slid down his face. "Of all the places we could have warped in, it just **had** to be here." He sighed. "Could've been worse though. At least we're not in the Forest Temple."

"What's wrong with here? It's nice," I asked.

World nodded in agreement.

"It should be," Time replied, "seeing as we're in the middle of Hyrule Castle."

Twi facepalmed as well.

"Oh," I stated.

"Is it a problem, though? I'm always hanging out in the castle with Zelda in my world," World inserted.

"Well, seeing how I've been missing for ten years, I don't think the king will be happy to find multiple versions of me standing just outside the throne room." said Time.

"Well said," stated a voice I'd never heard before.

I whipped around to see a woman. A kinda scary woman. She glared at us with her red eyes.

Actually, she glared straight at Time.

Time stiffened slightly. "Impa."

Twi slowly gripped the hilt of his sword. I decided to bring out my shield while world also gripped his sword's hilt. I didn't particularly want to fight this Impa lady. She didn't appear to be armed, but I could tell she was still dangerous.

"Link," she replied in a flat tone, "I have been instructed to take you to the throne room at once."

Twi scowled. "He's not going anywhere without us."

World scowled and nodded.

"Yeah!" I yelled.

Impa quirked an eyebrow. "And who would you three be?"

Twi smirked. "I'm Link. And this is Link and that's also Link over there." He pointed at me.

Both of Impa's eyebrows went up. "Link-that-I-know, what have you done this time?!"

Time smirked even as he leaned on Twi. "For once, it wasn't my fault."

"Hm. Well, all of you had better come then." Impa turned and walked out of the meadow.

We followed her down so many corridors I thought my feet might fall off. Finally, we reached the throne room.

Impa stopped just inside the room and addressed the figure on the throne. "Your Highness, announcing Link, the Hero of Time. As well as Link, Link, and Link."

She then pushed all of us into the throne room.

Time looked down at his feet. "King Daphnes, I can explai-"

"Daphnes has not been King of Hyrule for some time now," a familiar voice interrupted.

Time's eyes shot up. "Zelda?"

Zelda stood and smiled. "That's Queen Zelda to you. It's wonderful to see you again, Link! Where have you been?"

Before he could reply, Time's eyes rolled back in his head and he crumpled to the floor, supported by Twi.

"Whaaa?!" I exclaimed.

"What? What's wrong with him?" Zelda demanded.

Twi narrowed his eyes, but World stopped him before he said something that would get him in trouble.

"Well," World began, "he's kind of been... tortured... for the past ten years."

Zelda's eyes widened. "Well why didn't you say so!"

She glowed with a golden light and suddenly we were at the mouth of a cave close to the castle.

"Come on, we've got to get him to the Great Fairy!" Zelda said impatiently. She led the way into the cave.

There was a fairy fountain inside, but the fairy didn't appear to be there.

Suddenly demonic shrieking filled the air and a barely-clad demon spun out of the fairy's pool.

"Holy Triforce of Hyrule! What is that?!" I exclaimed.

World drew his blade and talked to the demon. "What have you done with the Great Fairy? Answer me!"

The demon giggled. "Why silly, I'm the Great Fairy!"

Everyone's jaws hit the floor except Zelda's and the Fairy's.

The Great Fairy giggled again, then floated forwards a little. "One of you is wounded! Please, bring him to the water."

Twi gulped, then moved Time to the water's edge. He then darted away from the fairy as fast as he could.

The Great Fairy gathered magic energy, then directed it into Time. After a few seconds, he opened his eyes. And yelped.

Time got up and got away from the fairy as fast as he could. Once he'd reached us, he hid a little behind Zelda.

Zelda rolled her eyes. "Thank you, Great Fairy, for aiding the Hero in his time of need. He is most obliged."

"No problem. Hero, you should come back sometime! I'll be waiting!" The fairy trilled. With another screeching laugh, the fairy disappeared.

"Man," Time said, "I think she almost took my eye out with her... ah... nose."

"Dude. Your fairies have issues," I commented.

Twi grunted in agreement. "Seriously."

"Frankly, that was more frightening than anything I've encountered before. Ever," said World.

Zelda lifted an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. She teleported us back into the castle. "Well, now that you can stand, what's going on?" Queen Zelda asked Time.

Time sighed. "Well, I've been being feasted upon by a possessed mask for a decade in a different dimension. Other than that, no clue."

Zelda gave the rest of us a questioning look.

Twi explained about time falling apart and dimensions colliding and all that boring stuff I sorta get and how Time was related to it.

When he was finished, Zelda spoke. "This may have something to do with an issue that's arisen in Kakariko Village."

"What's up?" asked Time.

"A mysterious stone has appeared in the middle of town," Impa said from behind us.

"WAAAAAAH!" I almost jumped out of my skin. She just appeared from thin air! _How does the woman __**DO **__that?!_

"What do you mean, appeared?" questioned Twi calmly. _Man, nothing outside of Termina can surprise him!_

"Purple gemstones, marked with what resembles the eye of the Sheikah, were in the village where they weren't the day before. However, I have a theory of what they may be, which I was about to present to Zelda when you four appeared."

Zelda walked to the throne and sat. "Well, let's hear it then."

Impa walked to the center of the room. "I have been researching the stone in the records of the Sages of Shadow. There is a mention of similar stones in an account by the first Sage. She recorded similar stones in the Lanayru Desert, which is now Lanayru Province. Apparently, they had the power to throw the surrounding area into a point in the distant past."

"Perhaps they have to do with us after all," said Twi.

"How so?" asked the queen.

"Well, that Ghirahim creep is still out there, trying to destroy everything. Maybe this is the Three trying to give us a hint on where - or when - to go."

"Wait," commanded Impa, "Did you just say Ghirahim?"

"Yeah... we encountered him right after we rescued Time."

Impa addressed Zelda. "Your Highness, the situation is even more dire than I thought. We need to get all of these Heroes to the stone and on their way as soon as possible."

The Queen of Hyrule looked as confused as I felt. "Why, Impa?"

Impa collected her thoughts. "There is a secret has been kept by the Sage of Shadow for millennia. No one other than the Sage was ever to know."

She paused, glancing at us. "However, this seems to be crucial information to their quest. The first Sage of Shadow, Impa, sealed away a relic of an ancient evil within the Shadow Temple. It was to never be known or spoken of again, except to pass the knowledge to the next Sage. The relic houses a spirit known as Ghirahim, who is capable of wreaking havoc on the world. Or multiple worlds. I don't know the limits of his power, but Ghirahim must be stopped."

Zelda nodded in agreement and stood. "Yes. But in order to do so, I would like to give the Hero of Time the Master Sword." She looked at Time. "I think you will need it for this quest. I'll go ask Darunia and Ruto for their spiritual stones." Zelda swiftly walked away.

"Wait," I said, "If the lore is correct, Darunia is in Death Mountain and Ruto is in the Zora Domain. How is she going to just go ask them for the stones?"

"Well, after Zelda sent me back to my childhood, everything was the same as it had been. Except for some reason all of the Sages remained awake. She's going somewhere she can meditate and go to the Sacred Realm, where Darunia and Ruto can give her the stones." Time replied.

"That's so cool!" exclaimed World. "So, what kind of sages are they? Are there more?"

"They're the Sages of Fire and Water respectively. There's also Saria the Sage of Forest, Rauru the Sage of Light, Impa the Sage of Shadow, Nabooru the Sage of Spirit, and Zelda, who is their leader. You've already met Zelda and Impa and will meet Rauru if we go to the Temple of Time."

"Cool!" World grinned.

Time lifted an eyebrow. "So, why are you so excited, kid? Also, what should I call you guys? I'm not going around getting confused about who I'm talking to."

Twi answered, "I'm Twi, that's World, and this is Wind. We've already dubbed you Time. Each of us is the next Hero after you in each of the three timelines. World's from the one where you're... defeated. As a result, he knows none of the lore, even about the Three. He gets excited whenever he can find out more."

"I see," replied Time.

Just then, Zelda walked back in. "Got them! Okay Link, let's go to the Temple."

Time brought a blue object out of his pouch.

I almost drooled. "THE OCARINA OF TIME!" I yelled.

"What?" asked World.

"I'll explain later, let's just do this!" I replied.

Time chuckled. "Okay, everyone get close to me."

Once we'd gathered around, he played a tune on THE OCARINA OF TIME! It was very light, and reminded me of sunlight shining on a waterfall. Next thing I know, we're in another place.

"THAT WAS AWESOME! LET'S DO IT AGAIN!" I yelled.

"SHHHHH!" everyone said.

"What?" I asked. It was then that I noticed we were in a cathedral with a somber chant in the background. "Oops."

"I'll let that slide just this once," said a man in orange robes.

"Rauru," said the queen, "I assume you heard what's going on?"

"Yes," replied the old man, "we must retrieve the Sword of Evil's Bane at once."

Zelda walked forwards to the altar and placed three gemstones upon it. Part of the wall behind the altar disappeared. We walked through into a room with the Master Sword stuck in a pedestal.

As Time slowly approached it, Twi whispered to me, "Did you know that this is the same place you renewed your sword?"

I gasped, earning a swift glare from Impa. "Really?!" I whispered back.

"Yep. At one point, I traveled into the temple of the past, the one we're standing in now. I can confirm for a fact that it's the same place."

"Wow," I breathed.

Time reached forward, grasping the hilt of the Master Sword. He lifted it, then pointed it to the sky.

"Woah," I whispered.

Time sheathed the sword, then turned back to us. "You guys ready to head to Kakariko?"

"Yeah."

"Yep."

"SWEET! WE GET TO OCARINA WARP AGAIN!"

Everyone looked at me and sighed.

We gathered around Time again. This time, the tune he played was was darker and a little creepy. We warped - right into a graveyard.

"WAAAHH!" I exclaimed.

Everyone sighed again.

"Actually, I think we should stop for tonight," said Zelda.

"Why?" asked Time. "Isn't this urgent?"

"Well, if you're going to travel through time, I don't see the difference one night will make. Plus, I think that... shorter Link..?"

"Wind," Twi supplied.

"Wind," Zelda repeated, "has gotten a bit too excited. Just look at him."

They did.

"What?" I demanded to know.

"Well," World said, "you're kind of shaking and look like you're about to pass out."

"No I'm no-"

I passed out.

* * *

**So I may not update this next week. Having a final and then moving between states for a bit. If I write, I'll publish it. I just may not have time to write.**

**Also**

**PLEASE VOTE IN THE POLL DISCUSSED AT THE TOP! It affects what I write next!**


	14. Timeshift

**Shout out to Anonoguest, Phantom Pawprints, King of Plot Bunnies, Leopardfire97, and Pastopresent for favoriting, following, and reviewing!**

**Anonoguest: Thanks so much! You're officially Awesome!**

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**I'm as likely to own Zelda as I am to spontaneously begin speaking Mondoshawan. And I only speak two languages, English and bad English. (I don't own The Fifth Element either.)**

* * *

The next morning, everyone met outside the Kakariko Inn. Everyone, especially Wind, looked a lot better since we'd slept. _Come to think of it, guess it had been a couple of days..._

As I stretched, Time rubbed his hands together. "So, ready to get moving? We've got a journey of ages to start!"

Twi, Zelda, Impa, and myself nodded.

Wind looked at him suspiciously. "You're way too happy for this time of morning," he grumbled.

"What can I say? I'm a morning person," Time shrugged, still smiling. "Let's go!"

Impa led us to a tree near the entrance to the town. At the base sat the mysterious purple crystal. There was a slightly creepy eye symbol carved into it.

"This is it," announced Impa. "It matches the description of the stones of the primeval Lanayru Desert perfectly. However, my predecessor left no indication of how to use it."

"Maybe it involves the Master Sword," Twi theorized. "That's how the dimension-hopping worked."

"Maybe. But then again, traveling through time is not necessarily the same as traveling through dimensions," retorted Time.

"I vote we whack it with our swords," stated Wind.

Everyone looked at him.

"What? It works in most cases."

I rubbed my chin. "True..." I trailed off as I glanced at Zelda. She had this really weird look on her face.

I walked over and touched her arm. "Hey, you okay?"

Zelda jumped at my touch. "Um... Maybe."

Twi quirked his eyebrow. "Maybe?"

"What's up, Zelda?" Time quirked the opposite eyebrow than Twi had.

Zelda furrowed her brow in thought. "I... I feel like I... _remember_ this."

All of us looked at her in surprise. Except Impa. _She never seems surprised about anything. Maybe she's psychic? Nah, she probably just covers it well._

"It's... called a Timeshift Stone, I think," Zelda continued, "Like Impa said yesterday, it can throw the surrounding area into the past. Which really isn't time travel."

"Aw man," complained Wind. "How're we gonna stop Ghira-creep now?"

"However," Zelda went on, "Time travel might be possible if the Master Sword is used in conjunction with the Ocarina of Time."

Wind jumped into the air and pumped his fist. "SWEET!"

Impa stared at the Queen of Hyrule. "Your Highness... How do you know that?"

Zelda bit her lip. "I... am not really sure. I merely seem to know. I can't explain it beyond that."

"Best not to push it then," said Time. He walked to Zelda and took her hand. "You shouldn't push yourself to remember things you can't. If it's really important, it'll come to you eventually." He smiled at her gently.

Zelda smiled back. "Thanks Link. I'll take your advice."

They kept smiling at each other.

Twi, Wind, and I pretended we weren't there. Impa got rid of the awkwardness with a discreet cough.

Time and Zelda jumped. Time released her hand and tried to play it cool while Zelda smoothed her hair and didn't look at us.

"So," Time said quickly, "If we need both the Ocarina and the Master Sword for this, maybe we should test this out with each individually. Make sure we aren't vaporized instantly and... stuff."

"Okay!" said Wind. He drew his sword and ran at the stone with a yell.

"No wait!" Time yelled. "I didn't mean like that!"

His warning fell on deaf ears. Wind launched himself ten feet into the air and struck the stone as he returned to the ground.

The stone made a chiming sound and glowed. An instant later, a blue circle extended around it.

We ran away screaming as fast as we could.

Apparently, in the distant past Kakariko Village had been a lava pit.

"Well," I asked once we were a safe distance away, "How do we fix this one?"

Twi looked at the now lava-surrounded stone speculatively. "You know, Zelda only said the Master Sword was required for the traveling. I bet we could turn off the stone with any kind of impact."

"Sounds good," replied Time. He yanked out his bow and quickly fitted an arrow to the string. He fired, hitting the stone dead on. It glowed again and the lava was replaced with grass.

I let out a sigh of relief. Impa and Zelda stood stoically while Twi and Time chewed Wind out for not thinking before he acted. Again.

"Well, at least we know that the stone works," I said.

Impa looked at me with that unreadable face of hers. "I believe that is the understatement of the year."

I gaped at her. "Wait, did you just make a JOKE?!" _Or try to, at least..._

She stared at me. And grinned.

And then she was back to normal in the blink of an eye. My jaw hit the ground. I was completely lost for words.

Impa turned away and looked at me out of the corner of her eye. "You saw nothing. Understand?"

I saluted. "Yes ma'am!"

Zelda looked at us. "Did something just happen?"

"No!" I answered quickly.

She looked doubtful, but replied, "Alright then." Zelda turned to face the group as a whole. "Now that that's over, ready for Ocarina testing?"

Time grinned. "Absolutely!" he exclaimed as he whipped out the Ocarina.

Wind just about died from fanboying.

Time glanced at Zelda. "Your lullaby or the Song of Time, do you think?"

She gave him a quizzical look. "Song of Time. Why would it be my lullaby?"

"Well, if it's important it usually is keyed to the song of the royal family," he replied with a shrug.

"Fair enough. But this time I think it's the Song of Time."

"Okay." Time put the ocarina to his lips and played the song from the Temple of Time.

The stone chimed again. This time however, it hummed and pulsed with light.

"I think you turned on the time travel setting," said Zelda.

Time grunted in agreement.

Zelda fidgeted. "Guess that means you're going again."

Time nodded without looking at her.

"Well... Good luck. To all of you."

"Thanks," Twi, Wind, and I replied simultaneously.

"Hey, Link? My Link I mean..." Zelda walked closer to Time. "Link... promise you'll come back this time."

Time finally turned and looked at her. "I promise."

She nodded as he turned and walked towards the stone.

"Links." We all turned to look at Impa. "Watch yourselves."

"We will!" yelled Wind. The rest of us nodded.

We finally got to the stone. We drew our Master Swords and struck the stone.

Everything went white.

* * *

"Hey, do you think they're okay?"

"Who cares?! They look like spies to me! KILL THEM!"

"Chill, Red. That's too much effort."

"Will you guys just GET A GRIP?! Or better yet, ACT LIKE NORMAL PEOPLE?!"

"Who - Who's talking?" I tried to open my eyes.

"Hey! We got a live one!"

"No kidding, genius."

I finally managed to pry my eyes open. I was lying in a field with the others next to a Timeshift Stone. And there were four me's standing over me.

"Oh great. Four me's in one era. This should get interesting." I blacked out.

* * *

**Hey guys! I am soooo sorry about how long it took to get this chapter up here. In the past couple of weeks I've been from New Mexico to Mississippi and everywhere in ****between. So I've been out of wifi for a while. So here's this chap! Enjoy :D**

**Also, before you ask, yes New Mexico is a state in the US and NOT part of Mexico. Amazing how many Americans don't know that.**


	15. Four

**Shout out to Sharinai, Samuel98, and the third unnamed guest of this story for favoriting, following, and reviewing!**

**Guest the Third: Thanks! :D Although just as a heads up, these guys are not based on the manga, since that's based on FSA and these Links are from the original FS game. Hope you still enjoy!**

**R&R is appreciated! It also gives me the inspiration to write faster ;)**

**I'm as likely to own LoZ as Anakin Skywalker is to act like a responsible, non-whiny adult during the prequel trilogy. (Seriously, I enjoy Darth Vader as a character sooo much more than Anakin. And I don't own Star Wars. Disney does.)**

* * *

"Hey! HEY! Wake up, you filthy traitors! Before I draw and quarter you!"

"Red, WHY do you have to threaten EVERYONE?!"

"Because they're ENEMIES!"

"Oh shut up. You guys are giving me a headache."

"Why you - !"

_What? _

I groaned._ Great Goddesses, my head hurts._

"Hey!" a different voice from the ones before yelled. "This one's waking up!"

I managed to pry my eyes open only to see World. Wearing purple.

"World?" I asked groggily, "Why're you wearing purple?"

World looked confused. "Who's World? Oh, is that the guy that looks like us? I'm Link. But the others usually call me Vio. Who're you guys?"

I looked around. I seemed to be in a forest, maybe the Lost Woods. Time, World, and Wind lay nearby, almost in a path that cut through the woods. "I'm Link too, but you can call me Twi. Is this the Lost Woods?"

Vio looked confused and opened his mouth to answer "Wh-"

"Don't give the insurgents information!" Another World lookalike in red tackled Vio and pointed his sword on me. "Where's Zelda? I KNOW YOU KNOW, COWARD!"

"NO! Red, stop!" Another one in green ran up and took a defensive stance in front of me. "Sheesh, why are me and Vio the only normal ones?!"

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING WEIRD?!" the red one roared.

A piercing whistle split the air. Everyone who was awake turned to look at Vio.

"Everyone just needs to chill. We need to find out what these guys know in case they can help us get to Vaati's palace. I've already found out that one guy is called Link but goes by Twi and that one that looks like us is called World. Now can we please act like sane people and find out what's going on please?"

The other two just looked at him.

"Wow," the green one said, "I think that's the most assertive you've ever been."

"And the most you've said in one go," added the red one.

Vio massaged his head. "Thanks Green. And Red, that's because you talk over me all the time."

Red crossed his arms. "Well, you should speak up then."

"Moving on," Vio said with a sigh. He walked back over to me and sat down. Green and Red exchanged looks and followed.

"So Twi," Vio began, but was quickly cut off by Red. "Hey! Vio said you're real name was Link! Are you copying me - er, us?!"

Green whacked the back of Red's head. "That's exactly the kind of thing Vio was talking about." He thought for a second and added, "Though that is a good question."

"That's a long story," I replied.

"Oh, I'll get to the point," said my shadow. Midna popped out and glared at the three other Links.

Vio's eyebrows nearly shot off his forehead, while Green yelled "WAAAHH!" as he toppled over. Red drew his blade again and yelled on about spies and conspiracies and the like. I had a hard time keeping a straight face. Honestly, I think Midna did too.

"Geez, no one really has seen a Twili before, have they?" Midna smirked.

"How's your shadow alive?" Vio asked curiously.

Midna sighed, exasperated. "How many times do I have to keep telling various incarnations of you guys? I'm not a shadow, I just hide there. That's not terribly important right now. What is important is that everyone here except me is a version of the Hero, chosen by Farore. All of you are called Link. That one over there goes by World, the other small one is Wind, and the other tall one is Time. We just tried to travel back in time and we wound up here. Satisfied?"

Red, Green, and Vio looked at us with huge eyes.

"Okay," they all chorused.

I gaped at them. "Doesn't that stuff hurt you guys' brains?"

They shrugged simultaneously.

Vio explained, "Not much seems to surprise us since we gained the Four Sword. I think it has something to do with the split pieces thing. We won't flip out until we're one again. Unless it's something totally unexpected like a person popping out of another person's shadow."

Midna and I exchanged a look. "What are you talking about?" I asked, bewildered.

Just then, Time woke up with a yell, which startled both World and Wind into waking up as well.

"About time you all joined the party," I said nonchalantly.

"Mmh... My head..." muttered Time. Then he noticed the other three. "Aw, man. Three in one go?"

"So you weren't a dream," World commented.

Wind just stared at Green, Red, and Vio. Then he flopped down on the ground. "That's it. I give up. Too much weird."

Time picked himself up and walked over while World tried to convince Wind to act mature.

"So. Why're there three? And what's this thing?" Time demanded to know.

Midna ran her hands down her face. "How many times?! I'm Midna, a Twili. I hide out in Twi's shadow."

Time lifted an eyebrow. "If that's true, how come I haven't met you before?"

"Well, I was there when we killed the mask," Midna explained, "Then the demon creep came and I went into Twi's shadow just in case the creepy didn't wash off. Then there was that... fairy... and then there was a Sheikah around. And not just any Sheikah, the Sage of Shadow herself. Since I'm using shadow magic to help with this little quest, I don't think possibly getting locked in the Shadow Temple is the best idea."

"Wait," I interjected, "If you'd never been to Hyrule before the Twilight, how do you know about the Sheikah and the Shadow Temple? I mean, we certainly haven't been there back in our time."

"Well, they were in charge of the Mirror of Twilight for a very long time. Once, a few decades before Time's era, a rebellious young Twili slipped past our guards and crossed through the Mirror of Twilight. He emerged in the Shadow Temple. The Sheikah were intrigued by our shadow magic and locked up the Twili and tortured him, wanting to understand Twili magic. However, the Twili was... silenced before he broke."

I looked at Midna incredulously. "Your own people killed the Twili?"

She looked at me emotionlessly. "No. One of the Sheikah went too far in a session and accidentally killed him."

Time looked grim. "That certainly sounds like the old Sheikah. But Impa is different. She seeks to eradicate such horrors."

"Maybe," Midna said doubtfully, "but better safe than sorry."

I decided to change the subject. I looked around and saw that Green and Red were fighting again, while Wind and World tried to stop them. "Well, what are we going to do about these three?"

"Four," Vio corrected. He pointed to a nearby tree, underneath which napped a blue Link. "That's Blue. He mostly sleeps and complains about Green and Red when they get too loud. But, in his defense, he really helps out when it's important."

"Stop talking about me when I'm asleep," muttered Blue.

"Okay, Four. Why are there four of you, anyway?" I retorted.

"You guys really don't know, huh?"

Time and I shook our heads. Midna just hmphed.

"Well, usually there is only one Link. I - er he? It's confusing... I'll just say he - accompanied the princess Zelda to check on the seal on Vaati, a powerful wind mage. However, he escaped and grabbed Zelda. Then Link took up the Four Sword. It split him, body and mind, into us. I have a theory that each of us has a different part of the original Link's psyche. I'm the brains, Red's the brawn (and the temper), Green's the Hero, and Blue's the part that wants to be a normal kid. It usually manifests as never wanting to get up on time, even in the original Link. Anyways, we're off to rescue Zelda from Vaati." Vio smiled. "And that about sums it up. So, about you guys. I get that you guys are time travelers and all, but why're you here?"

I rubbed the back of my neck and looked at Time. He took the hint and said, "We're not really sure. We're going after a demon set on destroying time for some reason. A Timeshift Stone appeared in my time, so we took it as a hint from the Goddesses."

Vio rubbed his chin in thought. "Timeshift Stone? Like that over there?" He pointed behind us.

I turned and saw a Timeshift Stone almost invisible under the tree roots growing over and around it. I grinned at Vio. "Yep, just like that."

"So is this just a rest stop?" Midna questioned.

"Dunno," replied Time. "I don't think we would've stopped here if it wasn't important."

I grunted in agreement.

Just then, we heard the others yelling in alarm. It sounded like they'd gone farther along the forest trail.

I smirked at Time. "Here comes the interesting bit."

He smirked back, then we ran with Vio towards the commotion. I could hear Blue yawning and jogging along behind us.

We ran around a tree to find Wind, World, Red, and Green fighting what looked like a giant plant in the middle of a clearing.

Time sighed. "Why is there always a killer plant?"

Wind and World were pulling on some tendrils extending from the plant, while Red and Green fought the head.

"Vio! Blue! A little help!" Green yelled. "We have to attack our color on the plant but we need you guys to attack yours!"

"Got it!" yelled Blue. He and Vio moved to attack.

"Colors?" I questioned.

Time shrugged. "Beats me. It just looks green."

"Yeah... Think they can handle it without us?"

"Of course. They are us, after all," Time grinned.

"I don't know about that. Remember that plant in the forest temple, Twi? It almost ate you for lunch. Actually, it would have if it weren't for that monkey," Midna said provokingly.

"Really?" Time smirked. "The great Twi, almost eaten by a plant and saved by a monkey."

"Shut up," I said tensely.

"But it's just too good!" Time continued.

"No, really, shut up! Something's wrong!" I raced towards the four Links. They were all spasming and gasping. Wind and World were managing to keep the plant away from them, but they couldn't keep it distracted for much longer.

Suddenly a bright light flashed through the clearing. The four Links disappeared and were replaced with only one. I grabbed him and we all retreated away from the killer plant. When we reached the area with the Timeshift Stone, I gently put the one Link down. The others all gathered around while leaving some space so he didn't freak out when he woke up.

As the single Link began to stir, World asked, "Hey, you okay?"

Link stretched. "Yeah... What happened though?"

He suddenly sat up. "I'm one person!"

Wind made a weird face. "Isn't that a good thing, ya name thief?

"Oh no. Oh no no no no no. I can't believe this is happening." Link started hyperventilating.

I knelt down in front of him and held his hands. "Dude, look at me. Take deep breaths."

He did so and started to calm down a little.

"Now, what's wrong?" I asked.

"I..." Link started to panic again, "I... I BROKE THE FOUR SWORD!"

* * *

**So, author explanation time. I'm really sorry about how infrequently I've been posting. It was a combo of moving around some more and writer's block. If you're still hanging with me and reading this, thank you so much! I'm settled down (geographically) for the next few months, so I'll try to start posting regularly again. However, school's starting and I have to do stuff like Calculus II homework -_- Wish me luck and leave me reviews! They motivate me to write!**


	16. An Unfortunate Development

**Shout out to Multusvalde, Freyja Reinhardt, Whatstoknow, and I Love this for favoriting, following, and reviewing!**

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* * *

**Wind**

"I... I BROKE THE FOUR SWORD!"

My eyes widened. "That's not good."

World rolled his eyes at me. "No kidding." He walked over and began to try to cheer the other 'Link' up.

Twi, Midna, and Time inspected the sword.

"It looks fine to me," Twi mused.

Time grunted in agreement.

"It's... different now," stated Midna. "Its magical aura just... diminished. It still has some magic, but not enough to power the splitting mechanism."

Me, Twi, and Time looked at her.

"What? It's not my fault I'm more magically sensitive than you all," she smirked.

Meanwhile, World had calmed the other guy down a lot. The other guy was still sniffling, but he'd mostly pulled himself together.

"Hey, other guy," I said.

He jumped a little, then quietly said, "Yeah?"

"I need something to call you that's not 'other guy'. What's your nickname? And don't you dare say Link 'cause that's my name!"

Twi slid his hand down his face. "Are you ever going to accept that other people can be named Link too?"

"Nope," I cheerfully replied. I turned back to the other guy. "So, what should I call you?"

"...I dunno," he said dully.

"How about this?" World inserted. "We could call you Four since when we met you you were four people. Or you could go by Green, I suppose."

"I can't be called Four," the other guy moped. "I broke the freakin' Four Sword."

I was about to tell the other guy to just pull himself together when Midna interrupted me.

"I don't think that's what actually happened. It didn't really have anything to do with you at all," she asserted.

The other guy lit up. "Really?!"

Midna floated closer to him. "Well, when we first met you, the Four Sword was working and I could feel its magical power sustaining all four of you. Now, it's not like that power has broken or anything so much as it was never there in the first place. Some is still there, but it's like the sword was never given some of the power it had when we met you."

The other guy looked at her. For a while.

"What?" he finally managed.

Midna ran her hands down her face. "Ugh, why am I always the narrator here?" She took a calming breath, then continued, "You know all the stuff we told each of your four selves, right?"

"Yeah..."

"Well, we're after a time-destroying creeper-demon. And all of a sudden your sword stops working. Like it never gained its true power in the first place. Two plus two equals...?"

The other guy's face paled. "OH."

"OH! I KNOW!" I yelled.

Everyone looked at me.

"IT EQUALS FOUR!"

Everyone continued to look at me.

"What?"

Everyone hit their foreheads.

Groaning, Twi said, "Moving on... So Ghirahim's done something to the Four Sword in the past and it's affecting the future."

"Basically, yeah," Midna agreed. She addressed the other guy. "So, you didn't kill the Four Sword. Does Four work for you?"

He smiled. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Alright!" I exclaimed. "So. What now?"

Time spoke up. "Naturally, we warp into the past, eliminate Ghirahim, and fix the Four Sword. Then we can all go home happy."

"Sounds good," said Twi.

Midna didn't say anything, but she looked really unhappy. I walked over to where she was hovering. "You okay?" I asked quietly.

She jumped a little. "Fine! Absolutely fine! Thanks for asking, though." She smiled a little at me, then went back to her normal self.

"Okay," I replied. _Geez, I'm really confused... Girls are weird._

"Let's go!" World exclaimed.

We all walked towards the Timeshift Stone.

"Can I come too?" asked Four.

Time stopped and rubbed his chin in thought. "I don't know if it will work, since you don't have the Master Sword, We can try, though." He smiled at Four, then turned to Midna. "Midna, what do you think? You and I seem to be the only ones who have any idea how this stuff works."

Midna thought for a moment. "It should work. Since the past has changed but we can still all remember, the sword has apparently become a paradox. That should get him through to the temporal source of it. However, I don't think he'll be able to go to any other times or dimensions."

"Cool. I thought the same," replied Time.

My jaw dropped. "You understood all that stuff?"

Time smirked. "Well, yeah. I'm the Hero of Time, after all."

"Will you guys hurry up?" World yelled at us. He and Twi had already reached the Timeshift Stone.

"Coming!" I shouted back. "I'll race you, Four!"

I ran as fast as I could towards the stone. I looked to see where Four was. Amazingly, he was managing to keep up with my awesome speed somehow! _I'll have to resort to drastic measures._

I whipped out my hookshot and shot it into a tree near the stone. The chain dragged me towards it really fast.

"Oh no you don't!" Four yelled. He brought out a weird red U-shaped thingy.

"HA! How're you going to beat me with the letter U?"

Four smiled evilly. "Like this!" He squeezed the U a little and it started pulling me back towards him!

I tried to get the hookshot to pull harder, but somehow his U thingamajig was winning. Suddenly the hookshot ripped out of the tree and it got pulled right onto the U-thingy. With me still attached.

"Aw come on, man! That's not cool!" I yelled.

"That's what you get for cheating," Four calmly replied.

I heard laughter and turned to see everyone else laughing at us.

"It's not funny!" I yelled.

They laughed harder.

"Actually, it kind of is," stated Four. He started chuckling as well.

I tried to stay mad and failed. "Yeah, it is," I laughed.

Four and I walked the remainder of the way to the stone.

"Ready?" asked Time.

Everyone nodded, including Four.

He inched closer to me. "What do I do?" he whispered.

Time played the Song of Time and the stone pulsated with light.

"Hit it with your sword," I muttered back.

Everyone drew their blades and hit the stone.

Everything went white. _Here we go again..._

* * *

A certain menacing chuckle came from somewhere nearby.

_Ow. My head..._

"So. We meet again."

_Aw great. The creeper._

"Are these the 'heroes' you spoke of, demon?"

_Who's this guy?_

"Indeed they are. Really, I'm surprised this trap worked out so well."

"Well, my success rates are extraordinary," the other creep laughed.

_Someone's full of themselves..._

"Indeed. Well, they'll wake soon. We'd better lock them up."

_Well crap._

I blacked out.


	17. Enter Two Villains

**Shout out to the fourth unnamed guest for reviewing!**

**I'm as likely to own LoZ as I am to get clearance into Warehouse 13. Which is a series I don't own.**

**R&R is most appreciated!**

* * *

**World**

_Headache... Owwwww..._ _Why does time travel have to hurt so much? At least it's cool right now. Kind of helps the headache._

_Wait._

_Where am I?_

I slowly opened my eyes. I was lying on a smooth stone floor. Groaning, I pushed myself into a sitting position. I was in a room made of the same stone as Hyrule Castle was back in my home dimension.

_Where are the others?_ I turned around to look for them.

_Oh._

I was in the dungeons of Hyrule Castle. In the cell across from mine, I could see Twi sprawled across the floor.

"Hey! Twi!" I whisper-shouted. "Twi! Wake up!"

"Mmrph..." Midna slowly came out of his shadow. "Freakin' time hangovers..." She noticed her surroundings. "What the heck?! Twi! Wake up!"

"I've been trying to wake him up. I don't think it's working," I said.

Midna smirked at me. "Watch and learn kid." She looked at the peacefully sleeping Twi for a second, then bent close to his ear. "Link..." she whispered. When there was no reaction, she took a deep breath and bellowed, "LINK YOU BETTER WAKE UP THIS SECOND OR I'LL FEED YOU TO THE TWILIGHT BEASTS MYSELF!" directly into his ear.

He bolted upright. "I'M AWAKE! OWWW MY HEAD!" He looked at Midna, who was laughing her head off. "What the heck were you doing?! That was LOUD!"

"And hilarious," she retorted.

Twi scowled, then ignored her continued cackles. "Hey World. What's up? Wait, why are we in a dungeon?"

I shrugged. "No idea. I woke up, then Midna woke up, then she woke you up. All I know is that this is the Hyrule Castle dungeons."

Twi looked around. "Huh, looks different from the ones in my world. Although I guess they were covered in Twilight at the time... Where are the others?"

"Down here!" a certain voice yelled from the left.

"Wind! You okay? Can you see the others?" I called.

"Yeah I'm fine. I can see Time across the hall from me. I think Four might be next to me. He snores."

"I'll go see," said Midna. She floated towards the bars. And just dissolved through them and came out the other side like it was nothing.

"How'd you DO that?!" I exclaimed.

She rolled her eyes with a smile. "Twili magic, of course. I thought you would've caught on by now. You do seem to be more balanced one, after all."

She floated to the left out of my line of sight.

"Hey Midna! How'd you get out?" I could hear Wind ask.

"Seriously?! Can none of you remember the words, 'I HAVE TWILI MAGIC'!?"

I heard someone groaning.

"Hey Time. You alright?" Midna asked.

"Just peachy," came Time's reply. "Where the heck are we, anyways?"

"Hyrule Castle dungeons," I called.

"Well that sucks," he replied.

Twi snorted. "No kidding." He glanced over at me casually, then did a double take and swore.

"What? What's wrong?" I asked.

"Your sword's gone. Guess I should have expected that though. Still, that's definitely not a good thing for us."

"Well, this might be even worse," Midna hollered at us. "I found Four. He's fine. But there's another knocked-out Link in a cell with a statue. He looks pretty beat up. And the statue looks suspiciously like a certain king of of a certain land."

"Why do we care about a statue of the king?" Wind asked derisively. "And can I tell you guys something?"

"No. And why would someone care enough to lock up a statue in a dungeon?" she retorted.

There was silence for a moment.

Finally, Wind said, "Oh." After another pause, he asked, "Can I tell you guys now? It's really important."

Midna sighed exasperatedly. "It better not be that you need to pee, kiddo."

"NO!" he shouted back at her. "Geez, Midna. Anyway, when we first warped here, I was sort of semi-awake for a little. I think we were in a forest then. But then I heard a couple of voices talking about a trap and locking us up and one of them was the creeper-demon. Dunno who the other guy was."

Silence reigned.

Time sighed. "Well, that REALLY sucks."

An evil laugh floated down the hallway. "You have no idea, Heroes."

As Midna flitted into the shadows, Twi stood and quirked an eyebrow. "And who's talking?"

"Yes, I suppose I should introduce myself," the voice said smugly. A tall guy with lavender hair and purple robes teleported into the hallway. "I am Vaati, ruler of Hyrule and soon-to-be wielder of the Light Force! Ha ha ha ha -"

"Really?" Wind interrupted. "Purple? I mean, it works for Vio, but for a bad guy? Are you for real?"

Vaati stared daggers in Wind's direction. "It's a ROYAL color, thank you very much!"

"Whatever," said Time. "How do you know who we are? And why are we in this dungeon?"

Vaati composed himself and turned towards where I suppose Time was. "I am a powerful sorcerer! It was child's play to divine what was going on!"

"Really, Vaati, why must you hog the spotlight?" said the voice of a certain creeper-demon.

Ghirahim teleported into the hallway in an explosion of diamonds and smirked at Vaati. "I mean, I'm the most **fabulous** thing in all of creation!"

Vaati looked thoroughly annoyed, but composed himself once more. "Ghirahim," he acknowledged.

Ghirahim brushed by him and looked around at us. "We meet again, Heroes! I must say, my heart is filled with **rainbows**! To think you came all this way for little old me!"

He walked over to Twi's cell. "I'm especially glad to see **you** again. So, where has that little Twili imp run off to, hmm?"

Twi scowled at the demon stonily.

Ghirahim chuckled. "Fine. We'll do this the hard way." He teleported behind Twi. "I must say," he murmured as he got WAAAAAY too close to Twi, "breaking you will be a **special** pleasure. We're bound by a thread of fate, you and I; have been for millennia." Ghirahim's voice deepened menacingly. "And I fully intend to soak that thread in your blood. But let's leave the fun for later."

"CREEEEEEPERRRRRRR ALERRRRRRT!" yelled Wind.

Ghirahim teleported back into the hallway, his voice returning to its normal light tone. "Oh come now, no need to be so childish, child. Although don't think I'll have forgotten what you did to me. So much salt water! Eugh! ...But that's something for another day."

_What's that about?_

He rejoined the sulking Vaati in the middle of the hallway. "Anywho, to answer the Hero of Time's question, dear Vaati here knows who you are because I told him. I realized I might need a little help finding the Timeshift Stone and acquiring a facility to contain all of you, so I enlisted his aid."

"Now Vaati," he continued, "I would very much enjoy some quality time with the Heroes. Alone. Why don't you run along and research that Light Force some more?"

Vaati scowled and didn't move. "This is MY castle. I'll do what I please here. It is YOU, my 'honored guest', who should be researching the Light Force and ordering lackeys about. I have more important things to do."

Ghirahim sighed. "Very well. Go do your 'important things' whilst I give orders to lackeys."

Vaati hmphed, then teleported away.

Ghirahim snorted. "Imbecile. To think he's supposedly the one in charge here."

"So," Time said tauntingly, "you 'enlisted the aid' of that 'imbecile'? Not that I disagree with your assessment of him or anything."

The demon didn't take the bait. "Unfortunately, yes. It's easier to operate when the local Focus thinks they're in charge. Thankfully, he's focused on getting the Light Force, so he's mostly out of my way."

_Focus?_

"You'll... never get... the Light Force," a weak voice stated.

Ghirahim walked out of my line of sight. "Ah, the Hero and his Minish hat are finally awake. I must say, that hat's one of the oddest companions you've ever had."

"Say... what you want," the other Hero said. He coughed and continued, "I'll make sure... the Light Force... is never yours."

"My dear child," the demon replied, "I'm not after the Light Force at all. No, I'm after something much greater. I'm after the end of time itself!"

There was a pause, then the new Link replied, "Why would you want to do that? You'd never get to lunchtime."

A pregnant silence filled the dungeon.

"And here I thought you weren't quite as childish as the most of the other Heroes. Oh well. You're just that much more insignificant to my plans," Ghirahim said coldly.

He walked back to where I could see him. "Oh, before I forget..." the demon surrounded himself with diamonds and summoned forth six swords, "I'll be taking these with me instead of leaving them somewhere you could find them when you all eventually break out."

Two of the swords were Four Swords. The others were our Master Swords.

"GIVE ME BACK MY SWORD, YOU CREEP!" Wind yelled.

I stared at the demon angrily. "We'll take those back!"

"Nobody messes with my sword!" Time hollered.

Ghirahim looked at each of us, delighted with our reaction. Finally he turned to Twi.

Twi stared at Ghirahim emotionlessly.

The creeper-demon pouted. "What, no thrilling outburst from you?"

Twi looked down and gritted his teeth. "I swear..." he muttered.

Ghirahim walked closer. "What was that? I couldn't hear you."

Twi looked back up with utter hatred in his eyes. "I swear," he growled, "I will stop you. And then... I will end you."

Ghirahim walked right up to the cell bars. "I look forward to it," he said with a sadistic grin. He then teleported out, along with our blades.

Coughing came from somewhere to the left.

"Hey, name thief! You okay?" asked Wind.

"N-Name... thief?" The newest Link stammered between coughs.

"Don't mind that," I called, "Are you okay?"

"I think so..."

"Just take it easy, kid," said Time.

"Who are you guys?"

I sighed. "That's a long story. Hey, can you see the guy across from you? Is he okay?"

"Um... yeah," came the answer. "I think he's knocked out, but otherwise he seems fine."

"Never mind him," came a new, crotchety voice, "Get me out of here!"

"Just chill out, Ezlo," the new Link sighed.

"Who's that?" asked Wind.

"That's also a long story."

"The way I see it, we've got plenty of time," stated Wind. "How about you explain what you know, and then I'll tell you about us? Deal?"

The new Link agreed.

As they talked, Time asked, "Where's Midna gone off to, Twi?"

"Beats me," Twi shrugged. "Could be looking for a way out, could be spying on Vaati and Ghirahim, could be eating cake. You never know with Midna until she's ready to tell you."

I sat down again and stared at the ceiling. _I hope we get out soon; this ceiling is going to get really boring really quickly._


	18. Breaking Out

**Shout out to silverwolftribe19 and the fifth unnamed guest for following and reviewing!**

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**If you're reading this, you should know by now (as in, REALLY know) that I don't own LoZ. But just in case you don't (*cough* O invokers of copyright infringement *cough*), I'm as likely to own LoZ as the Legend of the Legendary Heroes anime is to get a second season. :(**

**R&R is most appreciated!**

* * *

**Twi**

"Psst! Twi or Link or whatever! Wake up!"

I groaned. "Five more minutes, Midna."

I felt something small jumping up and down on my chest. "I'm not the shadow girl! It's me!"

I opened my eyes to see a miniature version of Wind standing on my chest.

I sat up abruptly. "What the heck?!"

"AAAHHHHH!" screamed Tiny Link as he fell.

"NOW YOU'VE DONE IT!" someone else yelled. For some reason it sounded like an old man.

I swiftly caught the other Link. "You okay?"

"Yeah, no thanks to you." Tiny Link stood up on the palm of my hand and brushed himself off.

"Sorry. You startled me," I replied. I lifted an eyebrow and continued, "It's not every day I get woken up by a tiny version of me. Why **are** you tiny anyway, Wind?"

"Yeah, I guess it's a bit weird," Tiny Link said as he rubbed his neck. "And I'm not Wind. I'm the Link from this period or era or whatever. I'm small 'cause-"

"Yeah, great, we're all friends now. Now let's get out and stop Vaati!" the old man's voice said.

I rubbed my head. "Tiny Me, I think I'm losing it. Do you hear an old guy?"

"He's not tiny! He's MINISH-sized!" The old man yelled.

Tiny Me sighed. "That's my companion Ezlo. Vaati turned him into a hat."

My eyebrows shot up. "You're companion's a talking hat?"

"Yeah..."

"Stop talking about me like I'm not here!" said Ezlo.

"Sorry," I chuckled.

Wind stood over me. "Are you just gonna talk or are you coming with us?"

I stretched. "Yeah, sure, Wind... Wait, WHAT?! How did you get out?" Looking up, I saw that everyone else was already out of their cells and waiting on me.

I stood, still carrying Tiny Link, and walked through the already opened cell door. "So. How did we all get out?"

"That would be me," Tiny said.

"How? And you still haven't explained why you're tiny, Tiny Link."

Tiny sulked. "Look, I'm small right now but I don't appreciate being called 'Tiny'. Honestly, I'd rather be called a Minish."

"Ok Minish," World said.

"I didn't mean that literally! Oh well..." Minish sighed. "Anyways, I moved the King's statue and found a place underneath where Ezlo could shrink me to Minish size. It's known as a Minish portal."

"Cool," I commented. Looking around, I saw Four was finally awake. "You okay, Four?"

He nodded and I smiled in reply.

"Hey. Less chatting, more breaking out," Time interjected. "And Minish, go get big again."

"Right!" Wind agreed as I put Minish down and he ran towards his cell. Wind tried to look tough, although I definitely heard him mutter, "I can't believe I'm breaking out of jail WITH THE HERO OF TIME!"

"You really need to stop fanboying so much," I whispered.

Wind blushed and glared at me. "Sh-Shut up!"

I chuckled and walked with Time towards the solitary door. "Has Midna returned yet?"

"No," he replied, "Haven't seen Vaati or Ghirahim either today."

I grunted in response. "Plan?"

"Sneak through the castle. Minish can help, since he's been here before. Find Vaati and eliminate him first, since he's the weaker of the two."

He paused and peeked through the door to check if the coast was clear. He motioned everyone through and continued, "It'll be tricky without our weapons though. Find and defeat Ghirahim, reacquiring our swords in the process. Fix the Four Sword and get out, whichever happens first."

"Sounds good," I replied as we led the others up a long flight of stairs. "Midna should catch up with us along the way."

"Good." Time turned to Minish. "Hey, we need you to lead the way since you know your way around. Where do you think Vaati will be?"

"He's not here right now," a familiar voice said from the shadows.

I smiled. "Hey Midna. What took you so long?"

Midna drifted out of the shadows. "I've been trying to follow those two dorks. The demon-creep keeps slipping away though. So I followed Vaati," she shook her head, "He's not nearly as smart or powerful as he thinks he is. Anyways, he's been going all over Hyrule looking for something called 'elements'."

Minish made a strangled noise. Everyone looked to see his hat freaking out on top of his head.

"He can't have figured it out! That's definitely not a good thing!" exclaimed Ezlo.

"Why not?" Four asked curiously.

"Because that means he's trying to power up the Picori Blade!"

Everyone looked at Ezlo quizzically.

"But... isn't that a good thing? I mean, that's what we were trying to do," Minish questioned.

Ezlo sighed. "If the Picori Blade is successfully fused with the Four Elements, it will become the legendary Four Sword. And the only way to find the Light Force is to use the Four Sword. If he's trying to forge the sword, then he'll be able to find the Light Force."

World looked at him confusedly. "What's this Light Force anyway? And if it's light, will Vaati even be able to use it?"

"Unfortunately he will, my boy," Ezlo replied. "The Light Force is a divine power that was entrusted to the Minish by a goddess."

"It's like the Triforce, only not as powerful. Still, it could do some major damage if Vaati gets it," Midna interjected. She held up a hand to forestall any questions. "Before you all ask how I know that, I read it from a book Vaati left in the library. Although I made the connection to the Triforce myself."

"We're astounded at the sheer power of your analogy-making brain," I said sarcastically. "We need to get a move-on if we want to have any chance of stopping what's going on."

Minish stepped forwards. "If Vaati wants to power up the Picori Blade, he'll most likely go to the Elemental Sanctuary when he gets back. Follow me!"

We followed Minish through the castle. Several times, we had to hide from guards. However, they were laughably inept. _Seriously? Is my world's Hyrule Castle the only one that's hard to get into?_

Eventually, we made it into the Elemental Sanctuary. It was a dark room with a pillared altar. On top of each pillar was a weird-looking thing I assumed were the elements. In the center was a sword pedestal. _That must be where the forging takes place._ Overall, the lack of light in the room gave us a tactical advantage. However, there wasn't any real cover.

Time noticed the same thing and sighed. "It'll do. Now everyone keep to the shadows and try not to be seen. Vaati will probably teleport in, so he could arrive at any moment. Be prepared for a hard fight, since we don't have our blades. Use whatever items you can."

"By the way," World piped up, "Why do we still have our items? Why didn't they take them along with our swords?"

"To make the fight more interesting, of course," a voice sneered.

I whipped around to see Vaati leaning against one of the altar's pillars.

Vaati smirked with half of his face hidden by his long hair. "I suppose Ghirahim was right after all. I thought it would've taken at least a week before you found that Minish Portal. Oh well."

"You're going down, Vaati!" Ezlo shouted.

The sorcerer rolled his eyes. "When will you ever shut up and admit that I'm superior, old timer?"

Minish glared at him.

Vaati sighed. "Before you all decide to kill me, I have a proposal."

Time quirked his eyebrow. "We're listening."

Vaati stood up and walked towards us, stopping a short distance away. "We have a common interest. That pathetic demon is in all of our ways. He has your blades as well as an item I require. He is actively trying to foil all of our plans. Therefore, I suggest we team up against him and recover our property. We can kill each other later."

"It does sound kind of convenient," Midna admitted.

"And advantageous to everyone," I agreed.

"In fact, it's sounds too good to be true," Time speculated. His serious face melted into a smirk. "All of which translates to 'heck no, you idiot'."

"YEAH!" chorused Wind and Four.

World and Minish silently adopted a defensive stance.

Vaati stood perfectly still, a deadly scowl marring his face. "Fine," he spat. "I can defeat that creep myself! And you all will suffer for not aiding me!"

Vaati launched several wind attacks at our group. Everyone dodged except Wind, who took the blast head on.

"Mwahahaha! Idiot!" Vaati yelled. "One down, five to go!" He laughed maniacally with his head tilted back and his eyes closed.

A breeze ruffled his lilac hair. "Mwahaha-wha?" Vaati opened his eyes. "WHAAAAT?"

A full-on tornado was bearing down on him. Wind was flying in it, directing it with that Wind Waker baton he showed me ages ago.

"Never fight the owner of the Wind Waker with wind magic!" Wind yelled as he directed the tornado to run over Vaati.

"I'll show you!" the sorcerer yelled. "I'll stop your little breeze in its tracks!" He gathered magical energy and took control of the tornado.

Or tried to, anyway.

Vaati's eyes widened in surprise. "I - I can't control it! NOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooo...!" he cried as the tornado swept him up.

Once he was several meters above Wind, Wind stopped the tornado. He floated gently to the ground.

Vaati was a different story. He hit the ground with a resounding CRACK.

Everyone winced.

"That had to hurt," Four said.

I raised an eyebrow at Time. "What was that about a difficult fight?"

He shrugged. "How was I supposed to know Wind had killer wind powers?"

"His nickname **is** Wind, after all," Midna pointed out dryly.

The others were all congratulating Wind and exclaiming how they didn't know he was so cool and wanting to try out the Wind Waker.

Suddenly, a yelling blur flashed towards Vaati. In the blink of an eye, Vaati's head cleanly left his shoulders.

I don't think the sorcerer ever noticed.

"WHAAAAA-?" All the younger Links exclaimed.

A sinister chuckle filled the air.

_Oh no._

I looked at Midna and Time and sighed. "He's behind me, isn't he?"

They nodded silently.

I slowly turned and found myself face-to-face with Ghirahim. And I mean face-to-face. He was four inches away from me at most.

"Hello creeper," I said as casually as I could. _I can't let this guy see any weakness. A single slip and I'm done for._

Ghirahim smirked with a chuckle. "I must say, you're the least fun of all of you Heroes to mess with. But that will make breaking you even more... enjoyable."

I put all of the intimidation and power I could into my glare. "Give us our blades. Then we'll see who breaks."

The demon teleported off to the side and sighed. "I suppose. It'll be more fun this way." He then launched into a monologue I didn't have time to listen to.

I slowly walked towards the others and stood between Four and Minsh. "Mini, you'll need to focus on forging the Four Sword. That should fix Four's as well," I murmured.

"Mini?!" he exclaimed.

"Hush and just do it," I said, looking down at him seriously.

I looked up to find Ghirahim nearing the end of whatever he was ranting about.

He made eye contact with me. "It's time to test that thread of fate, Hero of Twilight. Let it be soaked in the blood of you all!"

Our swords materialized across the room.

While we ran towards them, I caught up with Time and handed him the mask from Termina. He looked at me questioningly.

"I think you'll need it more than me."

Time nodded and we continued to run to our blades with the demon cackling away in the background.


	19. Fighting a Demon

**Shout out to blooper15, Zelda, Keilise, Kjones107716, and Gary the Goomba for favoriting, following, and reviewing!**

**Whiskertail: Lol! Your story made my day! And thanks! :D**

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**The statement "I own LoZ" is as true as the statement "I am Groot". I don't own Guardians of the Galaxy either.**

**R&R is most appreciated!**

* * *

**Wind**

I laughed triumphantly as I grabbed my Master Sword. It just felt so... right to have it back again.

I looked over my shoulder at the demon-creep. "You're in for it now!"

Ghirahim just smirked.

As me, Twi, World, and Time faced Ghirahim, Mini and Four ran off somewhere behind us.

"Hey where're you go-" I began to yell at them, but Twi stopped me.

Looking down at me, he murmured, "Not now. They're doing what they're supposed to."

That didn't really make sense to me, but I trusted Twi with my life. I nodded in understanding.

Refocusing on the demon, I saw that he'd teleported a cutlass from somewhere. He raised the blade above his head dramatically, and licked the blade as it came back down.

"Ewwww!" World and I said.

Ghirahim laughed. "This blade will be dyed crimson with your blood! It will be so... **delicious**." His eyes looked right at Twi and Time.

"HEY!" I yelled. "DON'T YOU IGNORE ME, CREEPER!" I ran forward with a yell while pulling out the Wind Waker. I summoned a tornado and aimed it right at the demon. It was about to run him over when a black tornado appeared and disrupted mine.

When both tornadoes had dissipated, Ghirahim just pouted at me.

_OH MY GOSH SO CREEPY!_

"I'm disappointed. You chose that measly baton as your first weapon? I knew you weren't of the same caliber of the Heroes of Twilight and Time, but that's just pathetic." He aimed his cutlass at me and began a running attack.

However, before he reached me a green blur crashed into him from his unguarded side. World had used those wing-boots of his to totally broadside Ghirahim.

The demon growled at him. "You'll pay for that, **boy**!" He teleported to a different side of the room and summoned a whole bunch of black diamonds that looked suspiciously similar to Orca's special throwing stars.

_That's not good..._

With a yell, Ghirahim sent the throwing-star-diamond-things in different directions at all of us.

I blocked and dodged as best as I could, but I still got hit a few times. As I dodged another diamond, I saw Mini doing something at the altar while Four protected him from the projectiles.

I heard a noise behind me and turned only to barely dodge the powerful slash the demon-creep aimed at my head. _Why does he ALWAYS teleport behind people?! Creeper..._

As I parried his follow-up attack, Time and Twi both tried jump-attacks from behind Ghirahim. However, the demon moved so fast it should have been impossible and managed to block both strikes simultaneously. He summoned another cutlass into his left hand and fought off both Twi and Time, one hand for each.

"Go Time and Twi!" I yelled.

Still, it wan't looking to good for them. Each Hero could barely keep up as Ghirahim drove them back towards the wall. The demon didn't even seem to be trying! Suddenly Ghirahim was hit in the back by a bunch of World's sword-lasers.

He hunched over in pain and teleported away from Twi and Time before they could recover.

I looked around wildly, wondering where the creeper would pop up this time.

"Curse that emergency protocol," I heard Ghirahim mutter.

I whirled around to see him holding World by the throat.

"Hey!" I yelled. The demon didn't pay attention, so I took out my deku leaf and shot a blast of wind at him.

Caught by surprise, Ghirahim crashed into the wall. World dropped to the floor, coughing but otherwise okay.

Ghirahim slowly looked up, his face murderously blank. "Enough. **Obstupefacere**!"

Suddenly intense pain crashed in on me. I tried to scream and writhe in agony, but I couldn't move! Slowly, the pain subsided but never totally left. I discovered I could move my eyes, so I looked around as best as I could. World was next to me. It looked like he couldn't move either.

I heard Ghirahim chuckle. He was walking to my right, where I could see Twi and Time. They were paralyzed too. Looks like Time had been about to put on that mask from Termina when the spell hit.

Ghirahim chuckled some more. "How adorable. You thought you could take me out with the Fierce Deity? You really were desperate. I'll be taking that." Ghirahim reached out to take the mask out of Time's hands when a huge, glowing, orange hand grabbed it and smacked it onto Time's face.

I moved my eyes to above Time's head. There, in the shadows, was Midna.

Ghirahim saw her too. "Now you've done it! I'll be sure to kill you in the most excruciating way possible, you Twili imp!"

Here eyes narrowed dangerously.

_Here it comes..._

"How. Dare. You. Call me. That." Midna said in a deadly voice. She closed her eyes and summoned a whole bunch of magical energy. "I am not an imp or a monster or anything else." Midna's eyes popped open. "I am the Twilight Princess!" With that, she threw the ball of energy at Ghirahim.

The demon put up a magical shield to deflect it. But the Twili magic stuck to it and began eating his shield. Ghirahim quickly dispelled the shield and Midna's magic disappeared with it.

But it was too late.

I guess the transformations had canceled out the paralyzing spell. Time stood tall, having completed the mask's transformation. His face looked just like Twi's had when he used it, all perfect and emotionless. But that was pretty much where the resemblance ended. Where Twi had looked graceful in a deadly way, Time was the definition of raw power. He was at least seven feet tall and had **huge** muscles! At his feet a certain wolf growled dangerously.

"Well," Ghirahim smirked, "I guess this will be interesting after all."

Time drew the weird criss-cross wire blade and lunged at the demon. Ghirahim dodged, only to take Twi's attack head on. Twi grabbed onto him and bit the demon as hard as he could until Ghirahim managed to shake him off.

Suddenly a bright light came from behind me. Mini ran past with three see-through versions of himself.

_What?_

Then Green, Red, Blue, and Vio ran past, followed by Midna. She floated over to me and World and un-paralyzed us with some kind of Twili magic.

I grinned up at her. "Thanks Midna!" Before she could reply, I ran over to join the others.

Twi and Time were really going to work. They coordinated their attacks so that if the demon dodged one, the other's attack landed. Meanwhile, Mini, his see-through minions, and Vio, Red, Blue, and Green were running interference to keep the demon from getting away. Although that became kind of pointless when he managed to teleport out and grab World.

I skidded to a stop, turned, and took a step to run towards World. However, I stopped as soon as I saw the wicked-looking blade pressed against his throat.

Ghirahim was covered in scratches and bruises. Still, the look in his eyes was dead serious. "One move and the Hero of Worlds dies."

Everyone went perfectly still.

"I see I failed to prevent the Four Sword from being forged," Ghirahim growled. "Oh well. Now. I'm going to give you all a choice. Surrender your blades, your items, and yourselves. Or World here gets it."

I looked to Time and Twi. _They'll know what to do._

Time looked at the demon emotionlessly (since he still had the mask on) while Twi gritted his teeth and Midna crept slowly into his shadow. Slowly, Twi dropped his sword. Time took off the mask and dropped it too. Everyone slowly began to give up their swords and items.

I looked at the Master Sword gripped in my hands. _We... lost. _I dropped the sword.

Ghirahim smirked. "That's right. Sacrifice everything you've been working towards for one of your friends. Tch. Not even the Spirit of the Hero can overcome that move. It's the one weakness present in every version of you."

Twi glared at the demon, then slowly smiled. "I think you're forgetting something."

Ghirahim looked confused, then stiffened. He spun around, still holding World at sword-point. Or tried to.

Before he got far, Midna hit him on the head with her giant fist, which I now noticed was her hair. Ghirahim slumped to the floor, knocked out.

World grabbed Midna and hugged her. "Thank you so much Midna you're my hero I'll always protect you unless you're saving me again but whatever just thank you so much I promi-"

"Kid," Midna interrupted with a gasp, "Can't - breathe!"

He instantly released her from his deathgrip. "Oops! Sorry!"

"WORLD!" I yelled, tackling him. Which was fun, until we both got tackled by Mini, Red, Blue, Green, and Vio.

I tried to get out of the pile-up, just in time to see Midna, Time, and Twi laughing hysterically.

"It's **not** funny!" I exclaimed.

"Oh yes it is!" Midna retorted.

Twi and Time calmed down, only for a snigger to escape from Twi's lips, sending both of them back over the edge.

I finally got myself out of the pile of doom and picked up all the items I'd dropped before Midna saved World.

Eventually, everyone got their stuff back.

"So, what're we going to do about Ghi- Oh no," World said.

I looked to where the demon was laying on the floor.

Or should have been.

"Well crap," Time commented.

Chuckling came down from the shadows near the ceiling. Ghirahim was standing on one of the rafters. "You Heroes will never defeat me! I must say, though, I had **loads** of fun." He teleported down to the center of the room. "I've spent enough time on all of you for one day, though."

Twi drew his sword and pointed it at the demon-creep. "You're not going anywhere!"

"Oh, Hero of Twilight. Your eyes! Such power! Such promise! Such... **divine hatred**." The demon said even more creepily than usual. "Yes, when all this is over... Breaking you will be the greatest pleasure I will ever know."

"But now I must be going," Ghirahim continued. "Catch me if you can!"

He teleported out.

Silence filled the room.

"Well, glad that's over," Ezlo said. "That creep sure was creepy! Now, for the important things! Take me where I can get a snack, my boy!"

* * *

**Just in case you want to know, the spell Ghirahim used was just the Latin word for "paralyzed". I don't speak Latin so if it's not correctly conjugated or whatever, oh well.**


	20. Fallout and Time Warp

**Shout out to Tahkaullus01 and Fadeic for favoriting and following!**

**I'm as likely to own LoZ as Elvis is to be living on his home planet, Jupiter. (I don't own Men In Black either.)**

**R&R is most appreciated!**

* * *

**World**

After Mini led us out of Hyrule Castle, we decided to stop at an inn since Ezlo insisted on eating.

_How does a hat eat, anyway? I mean, he's got a mouth, but still..._ Shrugging to myself, I followed the others in. Mini purchased a bowl of soup, grabbed a table for us all, and plunked Ezlo down next to the soup.

As the hat (somehow) ate, Wind spoke up. "That sucked."

"No kidding," I snorted, "You're not the one who got held hostage by a psycho."

"Speaking of which, you okay?" Time asked.

"Yeah, I'm as dandy as a spring cuckoo. What do you think?!" I yelled.

Everyone looked at me. Except Twi, who was staring at the table.

Wind's eyes were huge. "Dude. That's the first time you've gotten mad... ever, I think!"

I rolled my eyes. "Your point? I'm Hyrulian too, you know. I'm allowed to have feelings."

Four (who was back to one person for the moment) decided to say the most helpful thing ever. "Actually, we're all Hylians."

I hit the table and stood up. "Well thanks for the reminder that all of **you** are 'superior' Hylians and I'm just a pathetic little Hyrulian!" With barely a glance at their shocked faces, I stormed out into the woods surrounding the inn.

I stomped through the trees with tears running down my face. _What did I just do? They're my friends! They're why I'm still alive! I shouldn't have behaved like that._ Still, I couldn't get myself to go back and apologize. Eventually I sat down at the base of a giant oak tree and cried like a little kid. _Why am I so weak? I'm supposed to protect others, right? I can't even protect myself. _

_...That creep was right. I'm not a real Hero_.

"Hey kid."

I looked up.

Time was standing over me, rubbing the back of his neck. "Mind if I join you?"

I didn't respond.

"I'll take that as a yes," he said as he sat down beside me.

For a long while he didn't say anything else, just sat there as I continued to cry.

Finally he said, "You want to talk about it?"

I shook my head.

"Fine," Time said as I heard him shift a little, "I'll talk for you. Why am I so weak? Why can't I even protect myself? If I can't do that, how am I supposed to help others? How am I a Hero?"

I looked up in surprise.

Time leaned back against the tree and continued, "I've been there kid. Remember how I was when you three found me? An insane, broken prisoner. Taken captive by a stupid mask. Back in the beginning, while I was still sane enough, I thought the same things."

"H...How did you answer yourself?" I asked quietly.

Time looked down. "At the time, I didn't. I was in such a degree of suffering that I totally lost it. Thankfully, the Great Fairy blurred most of those memories. Only reason I'm sane now, actually." He glanced at me sideways "But after I was healed, I could answer. To paraphrase what you said earlier, I was only Hylian. I'm never going to be all-powerful and therefore was going to find myself in... let's say, sticky situations. How could I have possibly defeated that mask by myself when it had powerful outside help? The truth is, if it weren't for you, Wind, and Time, I'd still be there. Another feature of not being all-powerful is needing help sometimes. And that's okay. I can still defend others and myself, even if that requires help."

I was quiet for a moment, but then I couldn't contain myself any longer. "But that's just it. You're Hylian, the ancient and powerful inhabitants of Hyrule. I'm Hyrulian, a fallen and weakened race. Sure I have some Hylian blood, but it's diluted and insignificant. How can I possibly measure up to the rest of you?"

"World." Time grabbed my shoulder. "Don't you ever say that again. Sure, you're not Hylian, strictly speaking. That doesn't make you any less powerful, extraordinary, or important. Never compare yourself to others. You haven't had much contact with normal Hylians. I can assure you, Hyrulians and Hylians are equally powerful in general. The Hero is an exception. Yes, the group of us are extremely powerful. But so are you. The Hero is always the exception, Hylian or Hyrulian. You may not realize it, but you're just as powerful and important as any of us."

I sniffed a bit. "But you and Twi are so strong..."

"Pshh," replied Twi, leaning back again, "The only real difference between me and you is that I was given a magic flute while you got awesome sword lasers. And Twi's strong, but even he has his moments. Did you notice how he didn't react to anything you were saying?"

"Yeah..."

"He probably won't say anything, but right now he's beating himself up."

I looked up, shocked. "Why? He and Midna saved us all!"

Time closed his eyes. "Because he blames himself for what happened to doesn't realize all that stuff you said was you feeling insecure, though. He thinks you blame him for what happened. And he thinks you're right to do so."

"Seriously?!" I couldn't believe that Twi might think I was blaming him

"Yep. He couldn't save you, and because of that we nearly lost. Or so he thinks. ...I think Midna's been trying to cheer him up, but he's not listening to her right now."

"But it wasn't his fault!" I said, "The creeper demon could've grabbed anyone!"

Time looked at me directly. "You're right. And you're the only one who can get him to see that right now, since it's you he thinks he failed."

I stood up and brushed the dirt off my pants. "Well, we should probably head back then."

I helped Time up and we went back to the inn. Everyone was really quiet except Ezlo, who had fallen into a food coma and was loudly snoring.

"Umm..." I started. _Yeah, great way to get started. Best speech ever._

Everyone looked at me.

"I'm... I'm really sorry about how I acted earlier. It was really immature to take out my feelings on you guys. I'm not mad at any of you. I... I was mad at myself for not being strong enough. But I'm not mad anymore." I smiled weakly. "So... will you guys forgive me?"

"Are you dumb or something?" Wind asked, "Of COURSE we forgive you! Anyone wouldn't be too happy after what happened!"

Everyone else released an babbling chorus of "Yeah!" and "Silly World, to think we wouldn't forgive him!" and "I bet my hookshot's better than yours!"

That last one wasn't so helpful. But I felt a lot better. The only silent person was Twi, who was still staring at the table.

As the others got into an argument over which hookshot really was better, I walked over to Twi. "Hey, can I talk to you for a minute? Privately?"

Twi nodded silently, refusing to look at me, and went outside of the inn.

When we were out of earshot, I said. "Twi, I don't blame anyone for what happened. Especially you." I smiled. "You and Midna saved me! I forgot to say earlier, but I really appreciate you guys having my back. Thanks."

Finally, Twi looked at me. "How? How can you say that?! I failed you. I failed everyone! We all nearly died because I couldn't do anything!"

I raised an eyebrow. "Well, what're the other Heroes, chopped liver? They couldn't do much either. You think I should blame Wind and Mini and Four? What about Time?"

Twi ran a hand through his hair. "Of course not."

I crossed my arms. "Then why should I blame you?"

Twi looked at me for a minute. He slowly started chuckling, which quickly evolved into a full laugh.

"What's so funny?" I ask.

Twi smiled. "Nothing, really. There's this girl in my village, Ilia. Whenever I would get down over something as a kid, she'd always reason through it just like you did." He chuckled again. "I never could mope in the face of logic."

"Well, glad you won't mope anymore. Let's go back."

Twi smiled again. "Yeah."

When we reached the inn once again, Wind's hookshot had won the title of "Most Awesomest EVER!"

"You guys are finally back!" Wind exclaimed. "Let's get moving and catch that creeper!"

"Yeah!" the others chorused.

Twi chuckled. "If you all say so. To the Timeshift Stone!"

Using Twi's tracking skills and the Ocarina of Time, we eventually reached the spot where Vaati and Ghirahim had first captured us.

"All right, when to now?" Four asked excitedly.

Midna popped out of Twi's shadow for the first time since the fight. "Actually, back home for you."

"What? Whyyyyyy?!" Four and Wind said simultaneously.

Midna rolled her eyes. "Time and I told you before. The paradox of the Four Sword being both forged and un-forged let you through to his era. It should also get you back to your own. But the Four Sword just isn't powerful enough to let you warp through to dimensions and times at will. And the trip back will be the last for you, because the paradox has been resolved. No more timey-wimey Four Sword."

Four hung his head. "I guess this is 'bye, then."

"Hey, cheer up a little." Time said. "Don't you have a princess to save?"

Four smiled a little. "Yeah. I probably shouldn't keep her waiting."

"I'll miss you, dude!" Wind exclaimed.

"Back at ya!"

Everyone said their farewells. Then Time played the Song of Time backwards and sent Four to his home era.

"I hope he succeeds," I said.

Time nodded. "We all do."

"Well, what about me?" inquired Mini. "Do I get to warp or whatever or do I go fix everything, now that Vaati's dead and I have the Four Sword?"

"You're stuck here, kiddo," Midna replied. "But hey, at least your work's cut out for ya!"

Mini chuckled. "That's true. I think I'll hang around until you guys go though. See you off and all that."

"Fine by me," she responded. "You ready, Time?"

Time smirked. "The question is, are all of you?"

We all nodded. As usual, Time played the Song of Time, we all struck the stone, and everything went white.

* * *

"KIKWIIIIIII! MONSTERS!"

_What?!_

"So you guys finally got here! I- Wait, are you guys okay?"

I blacked out.

* * *

**Unknown POV**

The person scratched their head. "Well, I didn't know what to expect, but she never said anything about them just passing out like that. Oh well."


	21. What?

**Shout out to HyrulewarriorLink, .92798, OrangeLover10, ShadowMario2000, and Penciltip14260 for favoriting and following!**

**ragecage: Thanks!**

**I'm as likely to own LoZ as Link is to run out of storage space. Ever.**

* * *

**Twi**

_Ugh. Why does time travel HAVE to feel like a hangover? At least it goes away faster... Better see what we're in for this time._

I opened my eyes only to allow a ray of sunlight directly into them. I quickly shielded my eyes and sat up.

I was in bed. A proper, real, comfortable bed.

"Well, that's a new one," I said to myself. I appeared to be in a small room. There was an open book on a desk nearby, as well as a carving of a strange bird. A bookshelf and a wardrobe took up most of the space. Still, the room was cozy and inviting.

A strange noise floated in through the window next to me. I looked over and saw a massive red bird sticking its head through the window.

"WHAT?!" I yelled, quickly jumping out of the bed and drawing my sword. Or trying to, anyway. It wasn't on my back. Looking around, I saw that someone had placed it and my shield at the foot of the bed. I quickly grabbed both, drew the Master Sword, and pointed it at the bird. It seemed to be some really colorful, huge form of kargaroc. Thankfully, it wasn't as big as that crazy bird that followed Wind into my home dimension.

While I was occupied with the weird giant bird, the door of the room opened behind me.

"Hey, you're awake li'l buddy - Hey, what're you doing?! You could hurt someone! Or Kar!"

I glanced over my shoulder to see who was talking to me. A well-built guy with horrendously-styled red hair stood behind me in an attacking stance. On reflex, I quickly pulled him into the room, shoved him against the wall with my shield and brought my sword to his throat.

I leaned towards the guy, who looked considerably more fearful now. "Listen carefully. First, you will tell me where I am. Second, you will tell me where my friends are and if they're okay. Third, you will tell me why a **monster** is in my **window**. Begin." I wasn't going to take any chances after the whole getting captured incident.

The guy held his hand up in surrender. "Uh hey, man, chill out, will ya? Geez, you're even jumpier than the other one. At least the kids were chill with this."

I scowled at the guy, but pulled my sword a bit further away from his neck. "Other one? Kids?"

"Y-Yeah," the guy uttered as sweat rolled down his forehead, "Guy about your age, a bit taller than you, said to call him Time. Weird name if you ask me, but of course nobody has. Then there's a couple of kids, Wind and World. Link brought you all up from the surface to make sure you were okay."

I thought this over. It sounded legitimate. Plus it would explain who had been talking to us when we first warped in.

"Look, we may have started out on the wrong foot, but I'm really sorry and stuff and we're cool right so could you let me go please don't kill me man I didn't mean to freak you out or anything plea-he-he-ease I'm too handsome to die!"

"Hm?" I lifted my eyebrow as I tuned back in to what the guy was saying. He looked like he was about to pee himself. Abruptly, I noticed my face felt kind of tense. I guess I'd continued scowling at the guy and appearing to threaten him without realizing it.

I released the guy. "Sorry, forgot I was still holding you against the wall." The guy seemed pretty nervous still, so I smiled at him, sheathed my blade and held out my now-empty hand. "Guess we really did start on the wrong foot. Sorry, I've had a rough time of it lately. I'm Twi."

The guy suddenly brightened up and gave me a huge smile. He took my hand and nearly shook my arm off. "Hey, it's cool man. I'm Groose, the discoverer of Grooseland, inventor of the Groosinator, and mighty protector of the Temple of Hylia! Although I'm on vacation at the moment. It's good to come home every once in a while, right?"

"Yeah, of course," I replied once I'd reclaimed my hand. I glanced at the window to see the giant bird still there. "So, uh, what's up with the bird?"

"Oh yeah, forgot you didn't know about all this stuff," Groose said. Suddenly he struck a ridiculous pose. "Well, you've come to the right man to teach you everything and anything about Skyloft! That over there's Link's Loftwing, Karakurenai." Groose was now suddenly invading my personal space. "We call him Kar for short."

I moved away as quickly as I could. "Umm... could you not do that? I've been having to deal with this creeper for a while, so I'm not that good with invasions of personal space."

Abruptly, Groose got serious. "So it's true? That demon's really not dead?"

I lifted both of my eyebrows. "How do you know about Ghirahim?"

Groose rubbed the back of his neck. "That's something you should talk about with Link and Zelda. They know a lot more about it than I do. Of course, not everyone knows about that creep. Yep, it's pretty much just me and Zelda. And Link, I guess."

"O...kay then," I replied. After an awkward silence, I decided to change the subject. "So... Where are the others, then?"

Groose went back to his normal, odd self. "They're at the plaza with Link. Come on, I'll take you there."

Groose led me out of the building, which was rather large for a house (especially given the small size of the room I woke up in). On the way, he informed me that it was the Skyloft Knight Academy, where knights were trained to protect Skyloft.

"What kind of enemies are you fighting?" I asked.

Groose gave me a confused look.

"Well, you said the knights are protecting this place. From what?"

"Uhhh... well...," Groose replied, "Well, really the knights are there just in case. Mostly they catch people who fall off the island or stop newbies who try to fly at night."

"Wait, hang on," I interjected as we crossed a courtyard, "how do you fall off an island?"

Groose gave me another confused look. "Do you live under a rock? Oh! Wait, I forgot you didn't know." He stopped next to a staircase. "Try taking a look at what's under the stairs."

I did.

"What."

There was no ground. Just clouds. I was on a floating island. An island. That floats. On air. Which was next to another floating island. Which were held together. Only. By. Staircases.

WHAT.

"You okay, man?" Groose asked.

My brain couldn't handle what I was looking at. _WHAT?_

"O...kay... time to come away from the edge," Groose said. He grabbed my arm and got me down the stairs and onto the main island. He looked at me carefully. "You cool, man?"

"Yeah... I think..." I replied.

Groose once again brightened up. "Okay then, let's get over to the plaza! Your pals should be waiting!"

"Okay," I replied as I followed behind. Part of my brain was still shouting _WHAAAAAAT?!_, but I tried to ignore that part and just focus on what was in front of me.

We were approaching the plaza. On the far side, I could see a group of green-clad people. One of them turned and saw us.

"TWI!" Wind yelled as he ran over and tackled me. "You're finally up! What took you so long?"

"C...Can't... breathe!" I managed to wheeze out.

"Whoops! Sorry!" Wind apologized as he rapidly got off me. I stayed lying down, trying to catch my breath.

"How many times have I said you shouldn't tackle people?" World asked Wind.

Wind just ignored him.

"Well, don't you look lovely this morning," Time drawled as his face appeared upside-down above me.

"I'm peachy. Just help me up already," I retorted.

Time obliged and got me back on my feet, chuckling a little.

"Hi," a new voice said.

I looked up to see this era's Hero. He was about the same age as Time and myself and seemed to be one of those people who are always smiling.

"Hi," I replied, "I'm Twi. Nice to meet you."

The new guy smiled. "Likewise. The others have filled me in on the name situation, so you can call me Sky."

I grunted a little. "Good choice. It fits you."

Sky smiled even brighter. "Thanks! So, are you feeling okay? You all passed out right after you appeared in Faron Woods."

"We're fine. It always happens." I paused for a second. "Faron Woods, huh?"

Sky nodded. "Yeah. That's what a friend of mine said it was called, anyway. What about it?"

I smiled a little. "Nothing. That's just what it's called in my time as well."

"Cool!" Sky exclaimed. "So," he said as he addressed the group, "I know you all have questions, but we need to talk to Zelda about a lot of them. You guys ready to go down?"

"Down?" asked World. "To where?"

Sky smiled again. "To the surface of course."

"Yeah!" Wind exclaimed. After thinking about it a bit, he asked, "How are we going to do that?"

Sky gave his brightest smile yet. "By jumping,"

**...WHAT.**


	22. The Surface

**Shout out to Twi Rinku, FE96jAFFAR, this story's sixth unnamed guest (I think? It's been a while), and the seventh unnamed guest (assuming the previous is correct) for favoriting, following, and reviewing!**

**Guest the Sixth: Kinda sorta. Just wait and see ;)**

**Guest the Seventh: Should be coming up soon :)**

**I'm as likely to own LoZ as I am to simply walk into Mordor. Or own LotR.**

**R&R is most appreciated!**

* * *

**Wind**

_Sky is nuts._

_He's absolutely, positively, bonkers._

As I plummeted towards the ground, I continued to try to find words to describe how insane Sky is.

_He pushed me off the freakin' Loftwing! He PUSHED me!_

_Seriously, you have to be crazy to even suggest jumping off a giant bird!_

I paused in my ranting to myself.

_The ground's starting to look awfully close..._

In fact, I was getting close enough I could see a building and some funky-looking ground beneath me.

_Better use that sailcloth Sky gave me. Although why do they call it a sailcloth when they don't even know what boats are?! Crazy sky people..._

I pulled the sailcloth and gently floated to the ground. Or thought I was until I hit it.

"Owww..." I groaned as I picked myself up.

World was standing a few feet away, muttering something about insane Heroes from the sky.

As I looked up, I saw some specks falling towards us. I quickly moved out of the way and checked out the surroundings. We had landed next to this old temple with this crazy spiral area behind it. There was some sort of mark in the bottom of the spiral, but I was too high up to tell what it was.

A few seconds later, Twi landed. Well, not so much landed as was caught by Midna's magic.

"Thanks Midna," he muttered as he staggered forwards.

"No problem," his shadow replied, "Just don't puke on me."

Twi reached the temple and leaned against the wall. "I'm not going to puke on you, Midna. I just need a minute."

At that moment, Time and Sky landed perfectly, both smiling and discussing how fun it was.

I rolled my eyes. _Of course they would be fine._

"Alright," Sky said brightly, "You guys ready to head in? We've got a lot to discuss."

Time nodded, while Twi just sort of wobbled and World and I just stared at him.

Sky looked concerned. "Are you guys okay?"

"Yeah, peachy," I retorted, "I just got pushed off a giant bird and fell like a bajillion meters, no big deal."

World nodded in agreement.

"Ah," Sky replied, rubbing the back of his neck, "Sorry. I guess Zelda's been rubbing off on me." He smiled. "She used to push me off of things all the time. One time, she pushed me off the Goddess Statue and expected me to just be able to land in this circle at the bottom."

I tried to stay mad at him. I really did. _Why is Sky so hard to stay mad at?! Ok, Wind. Breathe. Keep your face straight. You can do this._

World snickered.

I totally lost it and we both fell over from laughing. Seriously, Zelda pushing Sky off that ginormous statue? It sounded like something Tetra would do. _Of course, she did launch me straight at the Forbidden Fortress... And she is my world's Zelda..._

"Umm..." Sky turned to Time, "Is this... normal for them?"

"Yeah," Time replied nonchalantly. "They're always crazy."

I jumped to my feet. "Who're you calling crazy, crazy?"

Time smirked at Sky. "See? They're fine."

"Argh!" I exclaimed and scowled.

Sky tried not to laugh while Time just smiled at me innocently.

Meanwhile, Twi had finally pulled himself together and yelled at us, "Hey crazy people!Are we going in or not?"

"We are," Sky chuckled.

He led us through the temple doors and into a large sanctuary. Nearby was this weird-looking gear-turny-thing that made this grinding sound every time it turned. It had the Triforce and music and a bunch of other stuff on it, including the Goddesses' crests.

In an alcove sort of behind the turny thing was a huge tree with some stools nearby. It looked like a nice place to rest.

Sky led us past both of those towards a raised platform. At the top sat a blonde figure in white, meditating. Behind the person was the Master Sword.

"Guy," Sky said quietly, "Meet my world's Zelda."

Zelda stood and smiled at us. "Hello. It's nice to finally meet you all."

Time lifted an eyebrow. "It sounds like you were expecting us."

"Yes," Zelda replied with a nod.

"Well how does that work?" Twi asked with a confused look on his face. "We're from the future. How could you possibly know we were coming?"

Zelda's smile turned a little sad. "All in good time. Would you mind filling me in on what you know about the situation you're all in?"

Twi rubbed his head. "Well, this demon-creep called Ghirahim is trying to destroy time for unknown reasons. The Goddesses told us three," He indicated me and World, "to go find Time by hopping though dimensions. We did, beat up a mask, met the creeper, figured out time travel, met some more of Farore's Chosen Heroes, got captured by Ghirahim, escaped, and barely got away with our lives. And now we're here."

"Ah." Zelda closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them again. "This is going to take a lot of explaining."

"What's to explain?" asked World. "The only thing we really don't know is why Ghirahim's so intent on destroying time."

"You're wrong there," Sky put in.

Zelda nodded in agreement. "At this point, you barely have enough to go on." She sighed. "I will never understand why the Three must always be so cryptic. This would be so much easier if they would explain this. Then again, I'm responsible for most of it."

I screwed up my face. "How is this your fault? I think it's that creep's."

"That is true," Zelda chuckled. "Ghirahim is doing all this of his own volition. However, in a way at least, I am responsible for the entire situation existing in the first place."

Time crossed his arms. "And just how do you figure that?"

Zelda closed her eyes again. This time, she seemed to glow with a golden light and her hair blew around even though there wasn't any wind. She opened her eyes, which now glowed slightly and were the same deep blue as the Great Sea.

"I 'figure that' because I am the reincarnation of the goddess responsible."

"I am Hylia."

* * *

**Firstly, sorry about the wait! I had a difficult time writing this chap. Hope it's worth it!**

**Secondly, I've been watching a let's play of Hyrule Warriors. No spoilers, I promise! I'm just gonna say that the soundtrack is AMAZING! :D**


	23. Spirits

**Two chaps in two days?! What is this sorcery?!**

**No shout outs today, so bad jokes ensue!**

**Two guys walk into a bar. The third guy ducks and walks under it.**

**I'm as likely to own LoZ as your average red shirt is to survive Star Trek. Which I don't own.**

* * *

**World**

After Zelda's... er... Hylia's announcement, the only noise was the grinding turn of the strange device behind us.

I decided to be the one to break the silence. "Okay. Who's Hylia?"

All the other Links stared at me.

"What?" I asked as I crossed my arms.

"How... How are you that okay with this?! Zelda's a **goddess**!" Wind demanded.

I made a confused face. "What are you on about? How are **you** not okay with this? Don't you guys already know most of the backstory here? I mean, it's just like the other Zeldas, right?"

"Actually, they don't," Hylia interjected. She walked a few steps towards me. "They have reached the end of what they know. They've never heard of me before, just like you."

"Wait a sec," Wind said as he crossed his arms, "So, this is kind of how you've felt this whole time? About everything?"

I nodded.

"How on Hyrule are you still **sane**?" Wind exclaimed.

"I dunno," I replied with a shrug.

"Moving on," Twi cut in, "Let's just find out about Hylia and what's going on okay?" He lifted his eyebrow at Wind and I.

"Yeah, sure," Wind muttered.

We all turned back to Hylia. She looked at us with her brilliant blue eyes. "I think I'll begin with the Sword. It's the easiest to explain." She led us over to the pedestal where the Master Sword resided.

Turning back to us with a swish of blonde hair, Hylia began to explain. "I'm sure you're all aware that this is the Master Sword. However, I shall explain its origins and properties which are probably unknown to you." She paused, then launched into her tale.

"Long ago, there was a war against the forces of darkness. I was involved, fighting for the people of this world. For this end, I created a sword for myself which the Hylians came to call the Goddess Sword. In and of itself, the sword wasn't terribly powerful. What made it remarkable was the being I housed within it. During its forging, I created a being and wove its life force into the blade itself. The being was a sword spirit I named Fi."

Sky shifted a little. I glanced at his face. He looked like he was sad but trying to cover it up. Being the generally happy person he was, he was failing miserably.

Hylia continued, "Fi served me well until the end of the war. I then gave her instructions for a time when the evil I fought against would return. She was an integral part of my plan for that day. She was hidden on Skyloft and waited for the return of the great apocalypse.

"Recently, the evil awakened and Link, or Sky as you call him, took up the Goddess Sword. With Fi's aid, he forged it into the Master Sword over the course of his journey. Sky was able to defeat the evil, but in the end the only way to contain it was to seal it inside of the Master Sword. As a result, Fi still resides in the sword, but most of her previous functions cannot be used and she cannot come out."

"Why not?" Wind interrupted.

"Because sealing the evil constantly takes all of the energy you would refer to as her consciousness," Hylia replied. She gathered her thoughts and said, "I think the best way to explain it is that, as a result of sealing away the evil, Fi was effectively put into a comatose state. She is not dead, but not properly alive either."

"Oh," Wind replied quietly.

I looked at Sky again. A few tears rolled down his face.

"I took her for granted," Sky said as everyone turned to him. "She always tried her best to help, and I took her help for granted and got annoyed with her a lot. And then in the end..." Sky trailed off.

"She was happy with you, Link," Hylia said. "Or as close as she ever could be. Focus on that."

Sky nodded wordlessly.

"I don't mean to sound rude," Time said, "but what does this have to do with us?"

Hylia looked at him. "A fair bit, really. That's why the Master Sword cannot be touched by evil and can destroy that evil utterly. Also, the 'laser beams', as you call them."

"Really?" I asked.

Hylia smiled a little. "Yes. When Time was defeated in your history, evil spread throughout Hyrule. This activated some of Fi's latent defense mechanisms, including the emergency protocol. When Sky wielded her, Fi could channel energy into the blade and release it in what is known as a skyward strike. The emergency protocol reactivated that capability to help you overcome the massive amounts of evil you faced. However, its energy comes from your own life signature, which is why it only works when you're at full health. It won't harm you though."

I grinned. "Awesome! Wait, hang on a second." I looked at Hylia suspiciously. "How do you know that? All of that happened several thousand years in the future."

She chuckled a little. "I was wondering when one of you would notice that. Since time has been destabilized, I can see what happened in each of the time periods and dimensions."

"So that's how you were expecting us," Time mused.

"Precisely," Hylia responded.

Time scratched his head. "As interesting as it may be, I still don't see why we need to know all of that background about the sword though."

Hylia nodded. "It was important because you need to understand sword spirits, since that's what you're fighting."

"Wait, what?" Twi asked. "You mean Ghirahim? I thought he was a demon."

"Why can't he be both?" Hylia shrugged.

"You mean to say," Wind interjected, "that the bad guy who nearly killed us all was just a **sword**?!"

Hylia smiled wryly. "I wouldn't call him just a sword. Sword spirits are beings that exist in multiple dimensions simultaneously. To the wielder, they seem to instantly have large amounts of battle experience. However, they actually gain it by training in other dimensions. In our universe, this only takes a few seconds. They are also nearly immortal - as long as their blade is intact, they cannot die."

Twi ran a hand down his face. "Well, this just got a lot harder."

"No kidding," agreed Time.

"It gets better," Hylia said sarcastically. "An effect of existing in multiple dimensions is that sometimes the spirit can sense when something in their future causes catastrophic failure. For instance, I believe Ghirahim's been saying something about salt water to you, Wind?"

"Um..." Wind rubbed his chin as he thought. "Oh yeah! He keeps going on about seawater and saying it's my fault! I don't know what he's talking about, though."

"It means that sometime in your future, you do something which causes Ghirahim's sword to be destroyed, probably by centuries of corrosion on the bottom of the Great Sea. He caught a glimpse of it, blames you for it and will take steps to try to stop you if he gets a chance." Hylia looked at each of us. "The point is, if you manage to destroy him, it's possible Ghirahim's past self with sense it and rewrite history to ensure his own survival."

We all looked at Hylia with our jaws on the ground.

Wind flopped to the floor. "We're doooooooomed."

"Not necessarily," Hylia put in. "If you keep Ghirahim occupied enough while fighting, most of his attention will be on this dimension, thus minimizing the chances of him noticing his impending catastrophic failure."

"It still sounds hard though," I said.

"Yeah," Time said as he stretched. "But what's the fun if there's no challenge?"

"That's the spirit!" exclaimed Sky.

"There is one problem," Hylia said.

"Aw come on! Isn't that enough news and info for one day?" Wind whined.

Hylia's gaze bored into all of us. "I have yet to tell you the most important information. I don't know Ghirahim's motivations, but I do know what he's after. He wants to foil the plan I mentioned Fi was a part of earlier."

Twi quirked an eyebrow. "And what plan was that?"

Hylia sighed, then met our eyes. "The reincarnation plan."


	24. Origins

**Shout out to FusionFlareBlitz, MidnightDekia, The Eagle1989, Nefalarion, and for favoriting and following!**

**I'm as likely to own LoZ as Fi is to refrain from telling you the batteries in your Wii remote are running low.**

**R&R is most appreciated!**

* * *

**Twi**

"The reincarnation plan," Hylia stated with a sigh.

_This doesn't sound good..._

"The what now?" Wind asked.

Sky scratched his head. "Yeah, what is that? And why haven't you or Zelda told me before?"

Hylia stood silently for a few moments, gathering her thoughts. She glanced up at us. "Could we move over to the tree? This could take a while, so it'd be nice to sit down. Also... it might help me with what I'm about to tell you all."

"Yeah, sure," Time said with a shrug.

We all walked across the sanctuary and made ourselves comfortable under the tree. Hylia sat upon a nearby stool.

The goddess stared at her hands for a good while. Finally, she looked up at us again. "It will make the most sense if I start at the beginning. This world began when the Three created it and left the Triforce behind. I was charged with protecting it from those who would use its power for selfishness and greed. One who fit this description eventually came after the Triforce: Demise, the Demon King. That was the beginning of the terrible war I mentioned previously."

Hylia's face brightened, a smile on her lips. "And that's when I met him. A man who had been condemned and tortured for years, yet fought of his own free will for those who had imprisoned him." She chuckled slightly. "I remember how he called out my Loftwing's rudeness, defending the courage of humans from the bird's scorn. I saw something in him, that day. I named the man my Hero and entrusted him with my sword. He led the Hylians and other surface dwellers against the armies of the Demon King during the war."

"The last battle raged for seven days and seven nights. So many died," Hylia said, her voice full of grief. "So many lost for pride and greed. My Hero fought on as his men fell around him. On the final night, he fought the Demon King himself. He was grievously injured and nearly died there and then, but was saved by the Loftwing. The Hero helped me to save the remaining Hylians and the world by creating Skyloft and hiding the Triforce there. After that, I engaged the Demon King myself and sealed him away." Hylia paused. "I was so tired. I searched for my Hero on the battlefield for so long. Too long." The goddess gasped, trying to hold in her emotions. "Eventually I found him. He...he had died from his wounds only a few minutes before I arrived," Hylia continued with a shaking voice and tears running down her face. "I... I wanted to honor him. A-And I didn't... I didn't want him to leave me. So I granted his spirit eternal reincarnation, to be born again and again whenever Hyrule was in peril. And I... I shed my immortality, so that I could be reborn with him each time as a Hylian. We would be together for eternity."

A hushed silence fell in the temple, disrupted only by Hylia's quiet sobs.

Wind quietly walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "What was his name?" he asked softly.

_Didn't even know the kid __**had**__ an actual quiet side..._

Tears still streaming from her eyes, Hylia looked up at him and laughed a little. "Haven't you guessed? His name was Link."

"**WAAAAAAAAAHHHHH**!" Wind exclaimed.

My eyebrows nearly shot off my forehead, mostly from surprise at Wind's volume.

"Saw that coming," Time commented. Sky nodded in agreement.

"Wait a minute," World interjected, "I thought we were Farore's Chosen Heroes?"

Hylia sniffed a little and wiped the tears from her eyes. "Well, in a manner of speaking you are. Farore chose each of you to bear her fragment of the Triforce. But it was I who chose you to be the Hero. You met Four and Mini, right? They don't have the Triforce of Courage, but they are still my Hero, my Link, reborn."

After that, Hylia stopped glowing and closed her eyes. After a few seconds, Zelda looked at us with her normal sky blue eyes.

"So that's the story," Zelda said a little shakily. She swayed as she stood up.

Sky quickly rushed over to support her. "Letting Hylia speak through her takes a lot out of her," he explained.

"I have one question," Time said. Zelda nodded, prompting him to continue. "Hylia mentioned that Demise guy. Do we have to worry about him too?"

Sky shook his head. "I already defeated him and sealed him away inside the Master Sword. We won't be hearing from him again."

"Well..." Zelda trailed off.

"Well...?" I asked as I raised my eyebrow. I had a sinking feeling about that tone she had used.

"Well..." Zelda said again, "that may not be... precisely true."

Everyone, especially Sky, stared at her.

Zelda continued, "The greater part of Demise's personality is sealed within the sword and we shouldn't have any more direct attacks from him. However... you remember that curse he placed on us, Link?"

Sky nodded.

"To fill in the rest of you, he cursed us to be followed by an incarnation of his hatred for all time. Demise is a similar enough being to the Three that he exists primarily outside of this world. A large part of his power is still active, ruling the Void, which is the space between dimensions. Enough remains to power up that curse every few hundred years, producing the antagonists you all have had to face. So in that way he does continue to trouble us."

"That explains a lot," Time said, "I never really understood how the Gerudo could have produced such a whack job as Ganondorf. They're reasonable people for the most part."

"Seriously?!" Wind exclaimed, "You had to deal with Ganon too?!"

"That is the form Demise's curse takes most often," replied Zelda. "I'm pretty sure the Three told you that. Did they say anything about 'the evil' when they spoke to you?"

"Yeah, a lot actually," I replied.

Zelda sighed. "Yep, that's them being cryptic again. I don't get this fascination they have with being mysterious. I mean, Sky and I could have dealt with Demise much earlier and easier if they and Hylia hadn't been so cryptic." She shrugged. "Maybe it's just a goddess thing."

"Maybe," Sky agreed.

"Well, I'm **extremely** glad you aren't nearly as cryptic. It's **so** much easier to get information out of you," an all too familiar voice drawled.

_Well crap._

Everyone jumped into defensive stances.

Suddenly, I felt creepy hands clenching my shoulders like a pair of vices. Again. _Aaaaaahh! Wait, get a grip, Link! ...Probably best not to react... Yeah..._

As calmly as possible, I spoke. "Hello Ghirahim."


	25. Ghirahim's Plan

**Shout out to Stormy Oton, for following!**

**Keilise: On the cliffhanger - Mwahahaha! On the rest - Read and see!**

**I'm as likely to own LoZ as the Great Fairies of OoC, MM, and HW are to ever, in any incarnation or update, ****not**** be freaky.**

* * *

**Twi**

"Hello Ghirahim."

"Aw, I was really hoping for a reaction this time," Ghirahim murmured into my ear. "Oh well. To be honest, your stoic response is rather... thrilling as well." His voice dropped to a whisper. "All the more fun to break. After I kill all the rest of you, that is."

"Ghirahim! Get away from Twi!" Sky snarled. While I had been distracted, Sky had pulled the Master Sword from the pedestal and now brandished it at Ghirahim.

"If it isn't my favorite sky child," Ghirahim drawled. He teleported away from me and rematerialized behind Sky.

As soon as he did, Sky turned with pinpoint accuracy and swung directly at the demon's head. Ghirahim just barely caught the blade before it connected. He pulled back quickly as his hand smoked a little.

Ghirahim eyed Sky over the collar of his cloak. "Somebody's been improving, I see. You might even reach my level of skill with a blade one day. I'll be sure to kill you before then."

Sky lifted an eyebrow. "Huh. The way these guys were carrying on, I was expecting you to be more creepy than ever. Tch. You're losing your touch, Ghirahim."

Ghirahim's eye twitched. "I am not creepy! I am **FABULOUS**! I am the most insanely attractive being ever to exist in the world!"

Sky shrugged. "You keep telling yourself that."

Ghirahim fumed, his surroundings darkening with his expression as he muttered to himself.

"Hey, Sky?" Wind asked, "Why does the demon creep care when you call him creepy? I mean, we've been calling him that this whole time and he didn't really react."

Sky pulled a face. "I don't think you want to know."

Wind (being Wind) couldn't keep his mouth shut. "I do want to know though!"

Ghirahim pulled himself out of his ranting to himself. "You want to know, Hero of Winds? I'll certainly tell you. It's because you're insignificant. I simply don't care what happens to you or what you do as long as you die in the end. It takes a lot to impress me and you simply don't cut it. It takes remarkable power and talent, like the Heroes of Twilight and Time and the sky child." Ghirahim scoffed. "A pathetic little boy like you is a sad excuse for a Chosen Hero."

Wind looked at Ghirahim blankly.

Then he crossed his arms. "Well I don't care much about you, either. You're annoying. You keep acting like you're so powerful when last time we met all it took was Midna's hair to knock you out. I don't want to 'impress' you and I don't care if I'm 'insignificant' to you. I am Hylia's Chosen Hero and bear the Triforce of Courage. What should I care what a sword thinks about me?"

My eyebrows nearly shot off my head in surprise. _I never expected __**that**__ to come out of __**Wind**__._

The others, even Zelda, seemed to be equally surprised.

Ghirahim, on the other hand, was deadly quiet. "So," he uttered, "you know about that, do you?"

World walked over to Wind and crossed his arms. "Yeah, we know all about you. You're just a sword spirit who can't handle the thought of getting beaten."

"You know nothing about me," Ghirahim snarled. His face contorted in rage as he continued. "Do you know the pain of hopes betrayed? Of existing for countless aeons with nothing but boredom with a side of disappointment and despair every few centuries? Do you know the **madness** of absolute, never ending defeat?"

Ghirahim teleported over to a circle inscribed upon the floor. "I heard Hylia tell you of my master's curse. Of the desolation he sought to visit upon those with the blood of the Goddess and the spirit of the Hero." He licked his lips. "I reveled in the mere thought of it. The fear and defeat that would overcome both of my enemies for all of eternity! It was my dearest hope. For centuries, I was locked in my sword form, sealed in the Shadow Temple by that wretched servant of Hylia and her descendants. But that was fine. I could still sense the curse moving to destroy my enemies. The first time it arose, I rejoiced at the thought imminent doom."

The sword spirit turned to glare at us with one eye. "But the focus of the curse was defeated by the Goddess and the Hero. I thought to myself, 'It's merely a setback. Surely the curse will prevail next time'. And when the curse arose once more, it was stronger than before. But it was again defeated. The cycle repeated again and again and again, eventually even in parallel realities. I kept hope for a long time. But finally... I realized the curse would never succeed. My master, the Demon King himself, had failed."

Ghirahim teleported onto the raised platform where Zelda had sat earlier. He glared down at us, utter insanity and rage burning in his eyes. "So I decided to succeed where he had failed. I would be the bringer of ruin to the Goddess and the Hero. I would have my revenge! Even if it means destroying this world. Even if time itself must die - I will **win**!"

"Well that's a lame plan," Wind commented. "What's the point if you don't survive?"

"Wind," Zelda said softly, "you don't understand. As a sword spirit, Ghirahim can survive the end of the world by going into another dimension. But if the world is destroyed..."

"Yes," Ghirahim crowed, "This space will become part of the Void. Part of my master's domain!"

"That sucks. This might seem harsh, but if we're all dead, why do we care if it becomes the Void?" World asked.

Zelda looked at him seriously. "Because most of the people of this world, from all eras and parallel dimensions, won't be dead. Everything will become paradoxical, causing Hyrule to collapse into the Void. Through the paradoxes, many would survive and be stranded in Demise's realm."

"Forever?" Wind asked.

Time shook his head. "Time does not exist in the Void. They would be there beyond forever. The closest concept I can describe it as is that they'll be trapped there for infinity."

"Well we'll just have to stop you right now!" my shadow yelled as Midna popped out and glared at Ghirahim.

Sky's mouth fell open. "Wha-"

"I'll explain later. Just accept it for now." Zelda interrupted.

Ghirahim smirked. "I admire your pluck, Twili, I'll give you that. But I'm afraid I don't have time for that right now," he sighed as he turned away from us. "In fact, I've got all the information and resources I need to end everything."

Zelda's eyes widened and she gasped slightly.

Ghirahim glanced back over his shoulder with a smirk. "Thank you, spirit maiden, for showing me the Moment I need. See you in the void!" He teleported over to the front of the weird gear thing.

"No!" Zelda gasped. She gathered light in her hands which somehow turned into a bow and arrows made of light. She ran to get a clear shot and loosed.

Ghirahim teleported out for a second so that the arrow passed through where he had been. With a final smirk at us, he touched the front of the thing. The purple surface rippled and disappeared, revealing absolute blackness. Then with a rippling sound, a twisted path made of turning gears appeared. Ghirahim teleported through it. A few seconds later, the purple face reappeared like nothing had happened.

"This isn't good." Time stated.

I snorted. "No kidding."

"Uh... what just happened?" Wind asked.

Zelda stared at the strange thing. Without turning around, she said, "This is the Gate of Time. It can send the user to any point in the past. And Ghirahim's gone to the point at which the timeline is most delicate."

"Which is?" Sky asked with dread.

Zelda turned to face us. "He's gone to kill the Ancient Hero before Hylia can grant his spirit reincarnation.

"Basically, he's going to wipe out the Hero from history."


End file.
